An Enfield Council project has reduced temporary accommodation costs by £2.5million since it was introduced.
- Innovative project has saved Enfield Council £2.5 million in temporary Accommodation costs since 2014
- Increases supply of affordable private rented accommodation in Enfield
- Provides well managed and maintained accommodation for Enfield residents
An Enfield Council project initially designed to reduce the cost of placing families in expensive temporary accommodation has chalked up savings of £2.5 million.
The Council set up the company, Housing Gateway, in 2014 to buy properties in which to place homeless people who were seeking temporary accommodation and reduce the costs to the local authority by placing families in Housing Gateway homes instead of expensive nightly paid accommodation.
Since then it has purchased 418 homes and saved £2.5 million, it expects to have purchased its 500th property by June 2019.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency, Cllr Dino Lemonides, said: “Our temporary accommodation costs were simply not sustainable in 2014 and we clearly needed to do something about it.
“Housing Gateway was the answer and it has enabled us to save a significant amount of cash which we can use elsewhere, as well as giving us asset we can sell on
if so desired at the end of the project. It is a real Enfield Council success story.
“We are committed to building strong communities and that means getting people into good quality homes that they can call home and get settled before moving into a longer term stable tenancy.”
Housing Gateway has also purchased properties for people with learning disabilities and has also redeveloped properties it has purchased to increase the number bedrooms available in them.