Hastings Borough Council (HBC) has unveiled an ambitious £11 million plan to buy up to 50 properties to provide temporary housing for local residents who need somewhere safe and stable to live.

The cash-strapped local authority is already at risk of having to issue what is known as a Section 114 Notice – which essentially means that the council cannot balance its books. But its cabinet considered the acquisition programme at its meeting on 3 January and were advised that, despite its significant cost, it would make overall financial sense.

The number of homeless households in temporary accommodation in Hastings and the associated costs to HBC has been growing year on year and becoming unsustainable. The net cost of providing temporary accommodation just two years ago was £731,706 and this figure increased by over 250% in 2021-22, costing the council £2,605,324. The projected costs for this financial year (2022/23) were £3,892,758. Officers advised that such an increase in costs were “undermining the council’s effort to reduce expenditure” and “threatened [its] financial stability”.

HBC has set up a dedicated Housing and Homelessness Taskforce to identify the key drivers of the costs and to find solutions to reduce them through homelessness prevention interventions and by supporting people to move on from temporary accommodation. These measures have run up against a general lack of affordable accommodation in both the private and social housing sectors, with the supply of social housing in the town lagging far behind demand.

“Everyone In”

The council is also accommodating many more former rough sleepers as a legacy and consequence of the government’s “Everyone In” commitment introduced in response to the Covid pandemic. This is using its discretionary powers rather than statutory powers, and the cost is not being fully met from the Government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative funding.

HBC currently owns approximately 30 temporary accommodation units. However, the majority of such accommodation is sourced from private landlords. The council is able to claim housing benefit to offset these costs but, in most instances, this is capped at 90% of the Local Housing Allowance that was payable in 2011. The amount is insufficient to cover even standard rents in 2022, and temporary accommodation costs are considerably higher.

In order to buy the properties, HBC will have to borrow the money from the Public Works Loan Board in the form of a 40-year annuity loan under which it would make interest and principal repayments and would have fully paid off the debt at the end of the loan period. The on-going maintenance and repair of the properties would be the council’s responsibility. The plan assumes it will receive government grant funding from Homes England as support.

Cost and saving

The annual cost of delivering the scheme would be in the region of £396,000. However, the council could achieve an annual saving in excess of £296,000 when compared to the cost of temporary accommodation from private providers once the portfolio was fully acquired. In addition, the council would then own the homes and be able to regulate rents rather than be at the mercy of arbitrary market rental increases. Over time, this would lead to significant savings in the cost of housing within the town.

If the plan is given the go-ahead, the Council will buy properties on the open market from later in 2023 over a period of two years and bring them up to its Fit to Let standard. This will ensure they provide residents with good quality housing, which meets a minimum EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of C. The council will also explore options to install insulation and renewable energy solutions which will help residents with more affordable bills.

Cllr Maya Evans, the cabinet member for housing, argued that Hastings is “experiencing a housing crisis” with some 500 households currently living in temporary accommodation; this figure is set to rise even higher. The new proposal, she stressed, would “give the council the opportunity to help hundreds of residents stay within Hastings and within their support networks, giving them safe and secure homes, allowing them to have a better quality of life.”

“Nowhere near enough”

Trudy Hampton, Chief Executive of Warming up the Homeless (WUTH), welcomed the acquisition initiative and said her organisation would work closely with the council to help it be successful. The 50 homes were desperately needed, she said, but were “nowhere near enough.” To emphasise her point, she said that WUTH has seen demand for its services increase by 262% over the last year alone, and she warned things would get “much, much worse” over the coming years before the acquisition scheme even started.

The cabinet unanimously backed the plan. It will now go forward to the next full council meeting on 8 February. The Labour group does not have majority control there, however, and the ending of the local alliance with the Green Party in October means there is no guarantee it will be approved.

Opposition councillors may be mindful of HBC’s recent track record in dealing with building projects to promote affordable housing. In 2020, the redevelopment of York Buildings in Hastings town centre saw costs increased by over one third with the council repeatedly having to approve additional funding to cover unforeseen costs. Conservative councillor John Rankin was scathing of the council’s failure to project manage a development of just six properties at that time, describing one budget increase as “an object lesson in how not to do things”.

This is the story of Warming up the Homeless (WUTH) and its volunteers, an inspirational charity which since its humble beginnings now acts as a lifeline for many hundreds of people in need all over East Sussex. The voluntary organisation started seven years ago, yet despite having two
charity shops and a big warehouse in Bexhill – helping people as far afield as Battle and Eastbourne – is still little known in Hastings where it all began.

Wake-up call

In November 2015 Bev Woolley woke up on the day before Black Friday and, feeling disgusted with its greed and needless spending, determined to turn the day into what she subsequently called ‘Blanket Friday’. She and a small group of friends then met together and planned how they would go along the seafront and give warm blankets and sleeping bags to people sleeping rough.

CREDIT: Dave Young

Once they had done this Bev realised there was much more to accomplish, so in April 2016 she and her friends organised a gig in the Pig in Paradise, which raised £500. This enabled them to start giving out food as well as protection from the cold and then in Bev’s words: “We realised we needed to become more organised and so started a Facebook page and obtained offices in Hastings”.

They won a community champions award and shortly after this Trudy Hampton became involved as a volunteer. Trudy has an extraordinarily astute business head and quickly realised that she could mobilise people and funds. WUTH was registered with the Charity Commission in 2018, and with a group of volunteers now numbering 300, Trudy has made it into a dynamic organisation which gives out around 600 hot meals, 1000 breakfast packs and receives 2000kg of donated food from supermarkets every week. She is an energetic, self-confessed workaholic, who now as CEO and volunteer puts in 120 hours a week for the charity. “I drive my husband mad,” she says, “but he still supports me.”

Jez’s story

Many people have had their lives turned round by Warming up the Homeless, WUTH volunteer Jez is just one of them. He feels that he wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for their intervention, especially as the charity firmly believes that providing food and helping towards more secure accommodation is not enough. Like Emmaus – another charity with a strong presence in Hastings and Bexhill – WUTH believes that giving a person dignity and providing them with a purpose is almost as important as their basic survival needs.

Jez’s story illustrates so clearly how a person with a good job and a stable family can suddenly, through no fault of their own, become derailed to the point where they feel life is no longer worth living.

Jez, volunteer for WUTH
CREDIT: Dave Young

“I was born in St Leonards Hospital on 25/10/67,” he says, “and lived with my parents in Bexhill till I left home. After various jobs DIYing, I became a regular soldier and did that for 10 years, but once I’d got married and had children decided to leave and get a regular job.

“I worked as a builder doing all sorts, we specialised in maintaining crazy golf courses in Holland, Ireland, Wales and of course Hastings. Last year I was helping to build a swimming pool in Ashford. I was working on the digger, and then I don’t remember a thing. It was a one in a million accident. I’d done all the safety checks; but the digger hit a stone and tipped over and was stopped by my head. My son saw it, everyone thought I was dead.

“I was taken to Kings Hospital by the air ambulance and was unconscious in ICU for 10 weeks. I was told afterwards that there was an 85% chance I’d be a total wreck. 

“When I was discharged, I went back to my family in Hastings. I could just about speak, but it was hopeless; I couldn’t stand noise and it was all too much. I spent a while in rehabilitation units, but they didn’t want me to be independent so in the end I decided to act on my own. I got a flat and everything I needed. It was a real battle – they didn’t want me to leave. They wouldn’t give my medication back, but in the end I managed to escape.

“Someone told me about Warming Up the Homeless. I was very doubtful. I went for an interview with Trudy and I decided to give it a try. I didn’t think it was for me. That was last August and now I’m here almost all the time. It’s changed my life, helped me, and now I go out and help people.

“Last night my four children came and had dinner with me, they stayed the night, and I took my son to the train station to get to college, then took my daughter to school. It’s all I want, just that and helping people. I’ve got everything I need now, my independence, somewhere to live, work that helps people and most importantly my children. My wife and I are in touch with each other, but we are happier separated.”

Expanding to meet growing needs

The charity has two shops in Bexhill and is about to open one in Battle. Most people are very aware of the dire lack of accommodation in Sussex, which has been exacerbated to a huge degree by Covid and the influx of people moving from inland towns to the coast to find houses and flats with gardens. This has pushed the cost of accommodation beyond the reach of most local people on a low income and as a result homelessness has rocketed.

As well as the food parcels, breakfast packs and hot meals WUTH also has a rapid response team with a 24hour helpline, a baby bank providing essential items for babies and young children, a bedding bank and drop-in centres offering a safe space with hot food. The charity also has a specialist housing lawyer and recently teamed up with Nationwide to offer bank accounts.

As the story above shows, while the money we donate and the food supermarkets give help people to survive, the shops and running of the organisation itself give people a purpose, a reason to stay alive.