Average stay in temporary accommodation for homeless people in Barnsley is “around six months”

Michelle Kaye, group leader of housing and welfare at Barnsley Council told a meeting today that the average amount of time people are staying in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs and hotels is around six months.

Ms Kaye told today’s (June 28) meeting of BMBC’s overview and scrutiny committee that a number of factors play a role in homelessness, including the cost of living crisis, which is creating a “perfect storm”.

“The length of stay across all our temporary accommodation at the minute unfortunately has been increasing because of the pressure on the housing market generally,” Ms Kaye told the meeting.

“Council housing is becoming quite scarce because there’s not a lot of turnover in council housing stock.”

Ms Kaye added that getting affordable private rentals for families in Barnsley “is quite a significant challenge at the minute”.

“It used to be relatively easy to get something within local housing allowance levels – that’s really difficult at the minute.

“A lot of landlords are exiting the market because they’re capitalising on high house prices and selling, or they’re having affordability issues as well.

“It’s kind of the perfect storm.

“We are trying to prepare for the cost of living crisis, we are quite worried about the fact that people are struggling to pay their bills, including their rent.

Ms Kaye added that Barnsley Council’s housing service has had more working people asking for help, and is hoping to increase the 25 council homes it currently uses for temporary accommodation to 30.