Council ‘taking action’ on homelessness

More and more people in Tameside are on the brink of becoming homeless – triggering a new plan from town hall bosses.

Last year 1,571 people contacted the authority to help them avoid homelessness – a 24 per cent rise on the previous year, according to a report. Now Tameside council has approved a five year strategy to tackle this problem and reduce the financial burden it creates. 

The latest town hall meeting heard how the council is working with more families at crisis point, meaning more intervention needs to be done earlier – before homelessness becomes a real threat.

This is why their homelessness strategy focuses on prevention. It aims to reduce the need for temporary and emergency accommodation for families, the meeting in Ashton’s Tameside One building heard.

Temporary accommodation provision cost the council around £5.6m in 2023/24, according to town hall papers. However, this cash is topped up by millions in government funding to provide the service every year.

Temporary accommodation stock is currently unable to meet demands and some is not suitable either. Around 38 per cent of Tameside’s temporary accommodation is located outside the borough, creating difficulties for users getting to school or work and for social care and health services.

By 2030, the council hopes to stop use of bed and breakfast and hostels for temporary accommodation; resolve homelessness cases within six weeks; reduce the number of people sleeping on the streets to almost zero; and reduce temporary accommodation use by half.

According to the homelessness strategy, this will be done by improving access to the council’s homelessness service, intervening earlier with at-risk families and creating more ‘good quality, well managed, local’ temporary accommodation.

Speaking at the meeting on September 24, Coun Andrew McLaren, deputy leader and portfolio holder for growth, housing and homelessness, said: “We have a housing crisis. As much as we want to build social housing, there is inevitably going to be a delay on that.

“We have adopted a wasted homes policy, which has identified 150 empty homes. That is shocking (to see that number of empty homes) and we are investing in re-purposing them for Tameside residents to occupy.

“It’s important that we remember that everything we do is to alleviate the housing crisis. This is not just warm words, it’s action.”