FAMILIES in Purbeck are facing Christmas in a bed and breakfast due to a shortage of homes in the area.

Nearly 700 households are currently on Purbeck District Council’s housing register, but with only 109 housing association homes built in Purbeck since 2012, the district is not keeping up with demand.

There are five families in bed and breakfast accommodation at present because the council is unable to provide homes for them. Between the families, there are seven children from the age of nine month to 13 years.

According to the council, one of these families had been living in Upton. Cllr Laura Miller, housing portfolio holder for Purbeck District Council, said: “The mother and father worked in Bournemouth and Poole so the extra travel costs from Swanage made their employment difficult to sustain.”

She continued: “Regrettably, there are times when the council has to place residents into bed and breakfast.

“This can be disruptive for families and for children’s education. Many families on the brink of homelessness have already faced a raft of distressing experiences. Whether it is due to domestic abuse, a relationship breakdown, loss of a family home through repossession, sale of rented property by a landlord or unaffordable rent increases, the added stress of not being able to find alternative suitable accommodation means they reach breaking point.”

The district council has spent almost £600,000 on emergency temporary accommodation for 154 households in the past five years, rising from over £78,000 per annum in 2012/13 to £262,000 per annum in 2015/16.

With fewer private landlords offering accommodation to families who rely on benefits, often as a top-up to their earned income, the demand for housing association homes is likely to increase further in the coming years.

Placing residents in bed and breakfast accommodation means the council is unable to reclaim the costs from the government. However, if residents are provided with a permanent rented home, the council can reclaim the money.

The council has been taking a range of measures to ease the situation for tenants, including covering the cost of their rent deposit so they can secure their own accommodation.

But Councillor Miller warned: “Unless we are able to provide more affordable rented accommodation, this situation can only get worse. Moving into temporary bed and breakfast accommodation will become a real possibility for more Purbeck families.”