Four more properties are being bought by Thanet council to be used for temporary accommodation.
The homes at Westwood Point are hoped to be handed over by the end of the year and are part of the council’s programme to purchase 170 temporary accommodation homes. Seventy-seven of these have already been secured.
The aim is to bring individuals and families place out of area back to the isle and also prevent households having to be sent to different districts altogether.
The four homes from developer Vistry will cost £1,05m, approximately £262,500 per property. The is an average 7.5% discount from the open market price.
The homes are not being bought via section 106 – required contributions for housing development- so are in addition to the required provision of affordable housing by the developer.
The properties will be funded through borrowing and are expected to create surplus income by year three.
Cllr Helen Whitehead, who holds the portfolio for housing and planning, told a council meeting last month that at that time there were 250 Thanet households in temporary accommodation.
The number of people being placed in properties outside the district has been slashed by two-thirds, from 160 last year to 52.
Cllr Whitehead said that as well as allowing people to return to Thanet, in-house temporary accommodation also reduced the costs of paying third party providers.
The latest properties comprise of three 2-bedroom and one 3-bedroom home which Cllr Whitehead said would serve as temporary homes to not just four families but likely eight families every year.
She said families would likely stay six months before moving to permanent accommodation, meaning eight families would benefit from the properties every year, keeping people in Thanet.
She added: “If …we suddenly have no need for temporary accommodation anymore properties can potentially be transferred to our HRA (housing revenue account) and therefore work to support families within that.”
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Whitehead said: “We can confirm the planned purchase of four additional houses to be used as temporary accommodation, a move designed to increase the local supply of affordable housing and provide better support for residents in need.
“By purchasing these market units and converting them into temporary accommodation, the council is proactively ensuring that it is able to respond to the immediate needs of local people by having homes available.
“This strategy is already delivering significant results for the district. Over the last 12 months, the number of homeless households placed in temporary accommodation outside of Thanet has been reduced from 160 to 52. Keeping households within the district is a priority, as it ensures families remain close to their schools, employment, and essential support networks
“From a financial perspective, owning these assets is more cost-effective than procuring emergency housing from the private sector. This approach provides higher-quality living standards for residents while ensuring the council operates efficiently and delivers maximum value for money.
“All placements are subject to strict eligibility and local connection criteria, ensuring that these resources are used to support those with a demonstrated link to the Thanet area.”
The purchase of 11 “genuinely affordable homes” at Tothill Street, Minster, to be added to council housing stock has also been agreed.
The agreed buying price under section 106 (developer contributions) was £1,440,476, an average of approximately £131,000 per property, which represented a 54.63% discount compared to the total independent market valuation of £3,152,000.
The properties comprise four one-bed, three two-bed, and one four-bed home, with Cllr Whitehead said were greatly in demand.
She revealed that on the housing register there are 599 households needing a one-bed property; 215 needing two-bed and 349 needing a three-bed home.
She added: “The average wait time for a three-bed home is four years which makes it abundantly clear why it is important to make this acquisition.”
There are currently 1,282 households on the council’s housing register with further applications waiting to be assessed. These properties will be split between those on the register and those currently in temporary accommodation but ready to move to a long-term home.
The homes will deliver surplus income by year six.
Homelessness services are the main contributor to Thanet council’s budget overspend, accounting for a forecast of £710k this financial year. This is due to additional pressures on the service to place vulnerable homeless and rough sleepers in temporary accommodation (TA) as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Although the council has taken steps to reduce its overall temporary accommodation spend, including with the development of Foy House in Margate, the acquisition of Truro Road, Newington Road and Vistry units and the use of 41 Porchlight units within the district, this is a longer term solution.
There’d be a lot more money if TDC didn’t spend over £6M a year on “Cultural and Related services”.
https://www.thanet.gov.uk/info-pages/cost-of-council-services/
So, you don’t want Regeneration Programmes happening? And no; that funding can’t be used for anything else.
Depends what exactly this “regeneration” is paying for, and as the corrupt TDC won’t giv us a full breakdown we’ll probably never know. Do they even tell cllrs what its spent on?
Peter; the full accounts are published every single year. They’re online right now. And you can even see them in person each year.
Got a link? I can’t find thm.
Peter – no mention about millions over spent by this inept Council, Councillors and senior staff. Uncontrolled spending and obvious very very poor management/oversight of budgets.
mmmm, a council that does not promote local culture, an interesting and scary thought.
Not as scary as a council that never sweeps streets.
I saw a road sweeper lorry today in Margate and regularly see the fellas with their carts.
Well we all know who will be put in the homes ,and it won’t be rough sleepers
Considering it says in the headline who the units are for, that’s a bit of an odd statement.
i totaly support the above statements , mr checksfield is 100% right as always . he rightly points out the scandalous amounts of money wasted on these gimmicks , they are of no real use to anyone if we are honest.
Thanks for your comment, Peter
Peter don’t you get bored of reply to your own comments? It’s a little bizarre.
More money being paid out that the Thanet taxpayer will never see the benefit of.
All these business cases supposedly start making a profit after TDC no longer exists so us residents will never actually get to see the benefit of them.
Ahead of local government reorganisation, all Councils should be embargoed from producing business cases which stretch beyond their own existence.
and can we stop repeating the mantra of “Homelessness services are the main contributor to Thanet council’s budget overspend, accounting for a forecast of £710k this financial year”
As others have said elsewhere, homelessness, temporary accommodation and benefit shortfalls make up around 40% of the Council’s projected overspend for 2025/6. It is not the “majority” (unless of course they have drafted in Diane Abbot to help with the maths)
Well, there is another 500k for temp accom housing benefits shortfall so altogether it accounts for 1.2m of the 2.9m overspend, amounting to more than overspend in other areas
How can 1.2 million be the “majority” of a 2.9m overspend ?
As I mentioned, it’s around 40% of the total. Politically, I’m sure our Labour Councillors would love us to think the overspend is all down to things out of their control but the reality is that the majority of it isn’t. I’m not getting at you Kathy but this is something the politicians are pushing and it’s simply not correct. The majority of the overspend, in £, is not down to homelessness, benefit shortfalls or temporary accommodation.
I think probably my wording is at fault, it is responsible for the largest separate overspend (when combined) when compared to overspend in other areas
Pmsl
Very good news:
1) Two thirds of homeless sent far away have been bought back to Thanet.
2) The numerous people on the housing waiting list have a much better chance of getting a decent home.
3) The Council is legally obliged to have a separate Housing Revenue Account that is ring fenced so Mr Checksfield’s remarks about cultural spending are just plain wrong. People should read up on Housing legislation before commenting on these issues.
Of course TDC is not perfect and I often criticize it myself but this news of council housing is unalloyed good and in time for the festive season .
Wishing Helen and her colleagues a merry Christmas 🎅
Thank you Ewan Uzami. And the same to you. 🙂
Great work by TDC
As I said about TDC giving free gold bars,Helen Whitehead is wasting her time explaining where money is spent, because you don’t want an explanation you want scalps.Even when Kathy tries you still bang on regardless.
Every council regardless of size has to publish its expenditure down to £500(it may be more now, so I am happy to be contradicted). Accounts are published and can be inspected during the audit period in the spring.
Do you know what? The whole time I worked in local government nobody,I mean nobody,came in “to look at the books”. I mean those who never put the heads above the parapet,but moan for Britain,can’t be arsed to go and check out the council they hate so much. That says it all.
As I have said many times I think TDC should never have existed, it’s record is dreadful, but to give Helen her due she is trying to turn round a really knotty problem, and for that she has my best wishes.
Next spring KCC will be announcing their budget, I expect after all their boasting, that they can show all us old lags, how to run a council. However don’t be surprised if it doesn’t quite work out that way.
I’m a TDC leaseholder, the end of year accounts have never in 25 years been correct, i like i expect many did ( and probably still do) query the numbers and would be assured they are correct. But then I started querying a bit more and more often than not the accounts were then shown to be incorrect. Leases not applied correctly, a total inability to use basic maths correctly.
When proved incorrect you’ll be assured other leaseholders don’t have a problem, charges for items that were outside of the leases curtilage. Reports commissioned and the paperwork then received accepted without question because no one at TDC wants to rock the boat, yet there are often blatant innacuracies . Some of which are suspiciously convenient for TDC, others just plain daft ( one example was a property described on an EPC as having a pitched roof when it was flat, another using incorrect photos for a tank room)
I used to go to the EastKent Housing offices in Dover to view the paperwork, the staff there just shrugged and said that’s the way thanet does things.
There was the catastrophe within the commercial property department, parks department and the excessive storage of waste.
Historically the biggest waste of money ( i can recall) was the animal exports crusade , how much did that ultimately cost? More recently ( again at the port) TDC had to cover the cost of road transport whilst the loading berth was bought back into service , how much did that cost?
It all continues unchecked because it’s not in the interest of the council at any level to sort things out as it reflects badly on those involved, instead it’s all left until there’s a change of controlling party and then used as an excuse for failings by the new controlling party and so it continues ad infinitum.
It’s far too easy for councillors to borrow and spend , having seen many examples of absurdly poor cost controls and the associated assumptions iits hardly surprising that many have little faith in the current borrow and spend policy TDC is embarking on. That the conversion of the old Oasis building into flats is going to cost around £400k per unit is utterly bonkers and a use of the taxpayers grant funding that just shouldn’t be allowed. Wasting money just because it’s there to be wasted is morally absurd.
Given that all the new builds are Leasehold, who is responsible for paying the annual Ground Rent and Annual Service charge?
Nobody, they are freehold.I might have missed something but nothing was said about a lease.
There all leasehold
TOM’S accounts are high level and do not show the detail. For that you need to inspect the accounts, which as others have pointed out so few do. All Council’s are wasteful, just read Private Eye Rotten Boroughs. TDC purchasing these homes using PWLB Loans, means the debt will get lumped onto the ratepayers of the new unitary. Kind of them. But hey they’ll be making a profit by then not.