Knowsley taps S106 funds to support homeless
With nearly 90 households in temporary accommodation in the borough, the local authority is looking to spend £1.4m to purchase private homes and repurpose its own vacant assets to provide a place to stay for those in need.
Knowsley has had an increase in homeless households over the past few years. In April 2018, there were only 17 households that fit the criteria. As of 29 October, there are 89. Last year, the need peaked at 100 and never went below 72.
The council only has 81 homes that these individuals and families can use.
When the council does not have the accommodation itself, it puts those in need in hotels and bed and breakfasts – a move that comes with considerable cost, according to the local authority.
Knowsley Council’s cabinet will meet next Wednesday to discuss using £1.4m from Section 106 agreements with residential developers taking forward Halsnead Garden Village – a scheme that includes 1,600 homes, a nearly 70-acre country park, and 56 acres of employment land – to bolster its temporary accommodation supply.
Vistry Group, Taylor Wimpey, and Bloor Homes are all lined up to deliver parts of the housing element at Halsnead Garden Village, although were not explicitly named in the cabinet report.
If the cabinet goes forward with the S106 plans, it will essentially be repeating a similar decision from last year. Back then, the council allocated £1.4m to buy private homes to increase the temporary accommodation provision. The result was an increase from 63 homes to 81 and a reduction in hotel use by 18%.
Acknowledging that the decision was still subject to cabinet approval, Cllr Tony Brennan, Knowsley’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic development, said: “This investment will have a positive long-term impact on council finances by reducing the need to use hotel provision, the cost of which exceeds the level of government subsidy, resulting in this cost having to be met from council resources. More importantly, it will improve the experience of homeless households during their housing crises.”
The purpose of a S106 agreement is to mitigate the impact of the development on the local community and infrastructure.
How does spending this money on providing more free housing do this?
By John
Broadly speaking i agree with John’s comments. Although s106 policies can be drafted quite wide for increased flexibility, it still is supposed to tie into the strain on current infrastructure caused by the development. The problem is that most developers have factored in the s106 payment already and dont want to disrupt any relationship with the local council by disputing the new intended use of the monies.
By Anonymous
If correctly worded, S106 obligations can be used to provide affordable housing off-site in lieu of affordable housing on site, where it is demonstrated that this wouldn’t be viable. This seems to be exactly what is happening here so I don’t see the issue?
By Anonymous