Local authorities, registered social landlords and private sector organisations are being invited to put forward innovative and cost-efficient proposals to fund the purchase of homes and convert them into quality permanent social housing.

London has over 60,000 households in temporary accommodation, with over half in temporary accommodation leased from the private sector at a cost of more than £400 million each year. The Settled Homes initiative will reduce the amount spent on housing benefit and provide greater security for homeless families.

The Mayor, who is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing in London, welcomed the initiative as a positive step. He said, “We have to look to every opportunity to maximise the supply of affordable housing for Londoners. The Settled Homes initiative provides an opportunity for innovation in creating additional affordable housing for households in temporary accommodation, and is a real opportunity for housing providers to make the case to me for further resourcing of such schemes when I become responsible for setting the investment priorities for affordable homes in London.”

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said, "This is a chance to get families into settled homes and cut the cost of housing benefit too. It doesn’t make sense to keep people in expensive temporary accommodation with high benefit bills if we can try using the money to buy-up social homes instead.

"We have made substantial progress in reducing rough sleeping and ending the scandal of families living in bed and breakfast accommodation. New cases of homelessness have fallen to levels not seen since the early 1980s.

"The next challenge is to get families out of temporary accommodation in the capital and into settled, more affordable homes. This funding means councils will be able to do more to help families into settled housing and make it easier for people to get into work as well."

Housing Corporation Chief Executive Jon Rouse said, "The Settled Homes initiative is a real opportunity to change lives. Taking away the disruption of moving people from temporary to permanent accommodation is a major contribution to creating better lives and more sustainable communities. It gives people the opportunity to put down roots in local communities, find employment and give children a settled education, all of which will contribute to greater community cohesion."

These initiatives will build on the range of existing and emerging temporary-to-permanent housing schemes in the capital.

ENDS
 
Notes to Editors
 
1.      The Government announced the £30 million worth of funding for the Settled Homes pilot in July, to help some of the 60,000 households in temporary accommodation in London into more secure homes.

2.      The funding initiative will back schemes that offer settled homes, reduce the housing benefit bill, and contribute to the Government’s target to cut the number in temporary accommodation by 2010. It will also look to support schemes that demonstrate better value for money than traditional funding for social housing.

Further information is available from:

Simon Cribbens
Senior Policy Officer - Homelessness
Housing & Homelessness Unit
Greater London Authority
Tel: 020 7983 4149
simon.cribbens@london.gov.uk