Crawley Borough Council is spending a ‘scary amount’ of money on temporary housing

In 2018/19 the council spent £262,000 helping the homeless. The projected spend for its 2025/26 budget is £8.4million.

That doesn’t include the £2million being spent to help people from the Chagos Islands who have arrived at Gatwick Airport.

The figures were shared during a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday evening (February 5).

Minus government funding of £2,870,000, that still leaves a massive £5,530,000 pressure on the budget – with one-third of the council’s spending going on temporary accommodation.

Sue Mullins, cabinet member for community engagement & culture, said: “When we talk about pressures on our budget, that’s one pressure that is really not sustainable.

“Those figures have gone up from a quarter of a million to six million in six years – that’s a scary amount of [money]. And what we’re predicting for the future years, I don’t know.

“Something has to happen, something has to give, because I don’t think any council can sustain that sort of pressure on its budget forever.”

Leader Michael Jones said the Home Office had promised the council £2million to help ease the financial pressure of helping the Chagossians.

“We look forward to that,” he said about the money, which has yet to arrive.

It’s been almost a year since the council declared a housing emergency, with Mr Jones writing to six government departments to urge them to take decisive action.

A study from housing and homelessness charity Shelter said that homelessness levels in Crawley were the third highest in the south-east.

Speaking at the time, Mr Jones said there had been a ‘perfect storm’ – huge increases in homelessness coupled with a lack of housing supply and the rising costs of renting and buying.

He added: “A roof over people’s heads is a basic human need and it is a tragedy homelessness is happening on this scale.”

A report to the cabinet said: “The council continues to pro-actively lobby government to recognise that the rising demand and cost of homelessness must be fully funded and that the current situation poses a critical risk to the council’s financial resilience as well as the local government sector. “