Mid Sussex District Council to invest more than £3million buying 12 properties to use as temporary accommodation

The council already owns 27 such properties and, as of August, has used them to house 39 singles/couples and 17 families with children.

During a meeting of the cabinet on Monday (September 11), members agreed to move £2.08m to the Temporary Accommodation Capital Reserve, with around another £1m expected to be used to enable officers to take the work forward.

Coupled with £1.285m from the Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing, which was approved earlier this year, the project should leave the council owning 39 properties.

Chris Hobbs, cabinet member for leisure and customer services, said the council had the necessary cash reserves so would not need to borrow any money, while the business case indicated that it would take five years for the investment to pay itself back.

Mr Hobbs added: “Whilst our own capital investment will be up to £3.08m, this relieves pressure from our revenue budget from which bed and breakfast accommodation is paid.”

A report to the meeting said that using temporary accommodation owned by the council had already saved around £300k per year in bed and breakfast costs.

Ian Gibson, cabinet member for sustainable economy & housing, said: “This is clearly a very wise and sensible thing for this council to be doing.”