Purpose

Background
Information
 

1.           
The Council has a statutory duty to provide Temporary Accommodation
(TA) as emergency housing for eligible homeless households who are
not intentionally homeless and are vulnerable.
 

2.           
The Council’s reliance on the use of emergency temporary
accommodation i.e. Nightly Paid Accommodation (NPA) has been
steadily increasing over the last five financial years. Between
March 2019 and March 2024, the number of households in NPA
increased by 304 and increasing costs saw the net costs to the
Council rise by £5m (276%) over the same period. This
increased reliance is due to the loss of properties under the
Council’s Private Leasing Scheme.
 

3.           
For 2023/24 the NPA net actual spend was £6,877k against a
net budget of £1,812k. This was due to an increase in the use
of hotels (110% between year end
2022/23 and year end 2023/24) and B&Bs for NPA as a result of the depleting
Private Rented Sector stock.
 

4.           
The Kingston Lodge Hotel has approached the Council with a proposal
to let the entire hotel comprising 66 rooms for one year at a lower
nightly rate than currently being paid for Travelodge bookings.
 

5.           
Although it is recognised this accommodation is not self contained accommodation, the benefits, apart
from the anticipated cost saving, of procuring rooms at Kingston
Lodge Hotel will be access to wifi,
fridges in rooms and cooking and laundry facilities which are not
available in the Travelodge. It will also avoid households having
to move rooms every 28 days which is the current rule with the
Travelodge bookings. This is disruptive to households, has impacted
Housing benefit claims and has created a heavy administrative
burden on Community Housing teams. Every 28 days officers are
required to:
 
a.   
Set up new rent accounts
b.   
Ensure new Housing benefit claims are in place
c.   
Move households to other Travelodge locations when bookings close
and there is no availability in the current hotel
d.   
Manage enquiries from households generated by the moves including
requests for further moves
 
Rebookings require the same level of work as a new
placement every 28 days.
 
Financial Considerations
 

6.           
The procurement of emergency accommodation from Kingston Lodge
Hotel will deliver a cost saving when compared with using
Travelodge. The saving is essential given the financial strain the
Council is currently under.
 

7.           
A comparison of the cost of continuing to use the Travelodge or
moving residents to the Kingston Lodge Hotel, and the savings
identified, is at EXEMPT Annex 1 (exempted from
publication).
 

8.           
Contract terms and conditions to be finalised prior to the signing
of the agreement.
 
Commissioning Advice
 

9.           
This is a leasing transaction, and not a service contract, and is
therefore similar to the spot purchase nightly paid arrangements
currently in place for the procurement of emergency accommodation.
The difference is that this is a commitment to lease the rooms for
one year which normally shall require Committee approval due to the
value of the agreement.
 
Reason for
Urgency
 

10.        
The Kingston Lodge Hotel advised that the rooms will be available
in early July 2024, and could be leased by another local authority
if the Council does not take up their offer. The Hotel has asked
for an urgent commitment from the Council by 21 June 2024. As a
result, the decision cannot wait until the rescheduled meeting of
the Place Committee on 17 July 2024.

Content

To procure 66 rooms from Kingston Lodge Hotel
for 1 year of emergency accommodation provision at a net saving of
£180k when compared with procurement of other hotel
accommodation.