Liverpool City Council could spend up to £90m over the next four years on a contract with a private company to manage temporary accommodation for homeless people in the city.
Last night, the Council Cabinet agreed to recommendations put forward by the Housing Committee to award a two-year contract to Perk UK Ltd to manage 1,600 temporary accommodations for those experiencing homelessness.
The contract is estimated to cost the council around £20m per year, according to the BBC. The total cost could rise to a maximum of £90m if the contract is extended for another two years.
In recent years there has been an increasing demand in the city for temporary accommodation.
Reasons for this include the cost-of-living crisis and ‘no fault evictions’ whereby landlords can evict a tenant even if they haven’t done anything wrong – these are due to be abolished next year.
This has led to increased pressures on hotels as a form of emergency accommodation in past years, but with the increase in temporary accommodation, this has reduced.
Liverpool City Council Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Hetty Wood, said:
“In response to that, we are taking proactive steps through a number of schemes to make sure we have enough units of accommodation to give them a roof over their head whilst they find somewhere more permanent.”
Those who are experiencing homelessness often suffer from mental health issues, either before or as a result of their circumstances. With people often struggling to access resources.
Talking about the new report proposed to the council, Professor Phillipa Hunter-Jones at the University of Liverpool, who has worked alongside PhD students’ studying homelessness and mental health, said:
“To truly make a difference, service support for the homeless community needs to be joined up. Accommodation is only one part of the story.
“Connecting housing initiatives with other support services, be they related to mental or physical wellbeing, or financial services for instance, is crucial.”
A new approach to tackling homelessness in the city is set to be brought to the council next month, focusing not only on temporary accommodation but also providing access to permanent housing for those experiencing homelessness.
