The council has borrowed almost £250,000 over three years to pay for the temporary accommodation
Freddie Lynne, Sebastian Mann and Local Democracy Reporter
14:29, 07 Sep 2026
Cash-strapped Havering Council has vowed to stop putting at-risk families in hotels by 2030, as part of its homelessness strategy. The council has borrowed almost £250,000 in three years and a major source of financial strain has been the cost of temporary accommodation.
Residents facing homelessness are commonly owed a house duty by their local council, which means the town hall will find them settled accommodation to keep them off the streets.
But due to a city-wide shortage of social housing, councils are often forced to pay high sums to keep these families in hotels and other bed-and-breakfast (B&B) style emergency accommodation.
Havering Council has been contacted by more than 15,000 households facing homelessness and people sleeping rough over the last five years.
This is due to a combination of external factors, Havering says, including the impact of Covid-19, the increased cost of living, rising rents, and the lack of affordable, privately rented homes.
A newly published report lays out the Reform-led council’s four-pronged strategy for the next four years.
The four objectives are to end the use of nightly-paid and hotel accommodation by 2030, to support people affected by “exploitation and rough sleeping,” to provide a “better temporary accommodation experience,” and “compassionate, empathetic customer care”.
Havering will tackle the reliance on temporary accommodation by focusing on long-term accommodation models that provide “greater stability for families” and the council’s budget, such as modular accommodation, office-to-residential conversions, and long-term leasing.
Relationship breakdowns are the most common cause of homelessness in Havering, and the council will develop its support systems for people “affected by exploitation through begging, substance dependency, coercion, family breakdown and complex trauma”.
Street begging “does not always equate to rough sleeping,” the council says, and enforcement action must be “proportionate,” targeted at “harm and exploitation,” and handled alongside safeguarding measures.
The report will go before Havering’s overview and scrutiny committee next week.
