Crawley Borough Council spent more than £25m over the last five years providing temporary accommodation

Figures from a Freedom of Information request showed that the gross cost of such housing rose from £703,201 in 2020/21 to £10,312,716 in 2024/25.

The figures for the intervening years were: £2,054,750 (2021/22), £4,654,666 (2022/23), and £7,559,270 (2023/24).

During those years, 9,773 applications for housing were received by the council from households totalling 18,157 people, including children.

The figures were: 1,775 applications in 2020 (3173 people), 1,655 in 2021 (3,125 people, 1,617 in 2022 (3,100 people), 2,228 in 2023 (3,961 people) and 2,498 in 2024 (4,798 people).

In February 2024, the council declared a housing emergency, with leader Michael Jones stating that growing housing pressures posed ‘a critical risk to the council’s financial resilience’.

When asked about the latest figures, Mr Jones said: “The housing emergency within Crawley continues, and this can be seen within these figures. It speaks to the continued unaffordability of housing for Crawley people and the impact of issues such as water neutrality which has slowed development of all housing in the town, including council housing.”

He added that housing costs was the ‘single biggest factor driving the council’s financial pressures’, especially because the government’s share of the cost, which it paid through the housing benefit subsidy, has been frozen since 2011.

This means that councils receive a capped amount, often less than the actual cost of providing temporary accommodation, creating a financial gap.

Mr Jones said: “Our net spend of £5.5m in the last year is broadly on a par with the year previously through activity to maximise recovery of the housing benefit subsidy, and after securing New Burdens Funding from the government following significant lobbying.

“However the underlying pressures continue grow, and we continue to lobby government on these issues.”

As for the housing applicants, in 2020, 706 placements in temporary accommodation were made, of which 83 were outside the borough. In 2021 there were 790 placements (129 out of borough), in 2022 there were 838 placements (227 out of borough0, in 2023 there were 916 placements (276 out of borough), and in 2024 there were 1,267 placements (424 out of borough).

Mr Jones said: “Our policy is to place within borough, but if a property is not available when there is an urgent need, we have no choice but to look further afield to ensure residents have a roof over their head.

“We have a statutory duty in relation to families that out of borough placements should not exceed six weeks, and priority is given to finding accommodation for those households back within the borough.

“We are very conscious of the impact of being away from local contacts and services, but our first duty is to provide accommodation and suitable supply within the borough is increasingly difficult to secure given wider pressures.”