Tivyside | Archive | 2005 | March | 18
From the Tivyside Advertiser, first published Friday 18th Mar 2005.
A CRISIS for homeless families in Ceredigion has resulted in the county council overspending on its housing budget by more than £70,000 - and the problem could be "spiralling out of control".
Some 17 families are currently in temporary accommodation in the county - one family of seven is costing the council £700 a week in bed and breakfast charges.
Overspends are also expected in education, which could be £200,000 over budget by the end of the financial year; and highways, property and works, where spending looks likely to exceed the budget by more than £157,000 because of "additional waste management landfill costs".
Cllr Hag Harris, Cabinet member for housing, reacted angrily when councillors were presented with the budget performance figures last week.
Referring to the figures for housing, he said: "I am not satisfied. We should have known we were heading for an overspend and it should have been flagged up to us. Why was the information not here earlier?" Finance director Gwyn Jones told councillors that £70,000 of the housing budget overspend was due to pressures on the homelessness service. A "significant backlog" of invoices from providers of bed and breakfast accommodation was settled during January and that accounted for a large proportion of the budget deficit.
Environmental services and housing director Bryan Thomas explained: "The number of families presenting as homeless is a new issue. A lot of buy-to-let landlords are now getting rid of properties and families are being evicted.
"We have an all time high of families in temporary accommodation in Ceredigion. There are currently 17. We are not offering council houses to let, we are tending to use them as temporary accommodation for homeless families to cut down the costs of bed and breakfast."
Mr Thomas said that one family of seven currently in bed and breakfast was costing the council £700 a week. "We are doing all we can. More properties are becoming available and we have more funding from the Assembly. The problem is that we are having to provide emergency accommodation but we have no permanent accommodation to move people on to; so the temporary places become blocked and we have to use bed and breakfast," he said.
Cllr Harris said: "This problem should have been brought to the attention of Cabinet earlier. The number of families in bed and breakfast has a big impact on the budgets."
Council leader, Cllr Dai Lloyd Evans said: "This is an important concern. If the increases faced in the last 18 months continue we must look seriously at the situation as it seems to be spiralling out of control."
Mr Thomas pointed out that the council had been challenged and taken to court by Shelter Cymru on behalf of a client because they thought the council was too harsh in its criteria. "The end result has been that we are working legally and doing the best job possible for people," he said.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008