THERE has been a 20 per cent rise in households in the New Forest who are or may be facing homelessness, the district council has said.
New Forest District Council has seen a 23 per cent increase since the Covid pandemic as well as a 35 per cent increase in the use of emergency accommodation.
Nationally, the use of temporary accommodation is predicted to have risen by 25 per cent, according to government statistics.
The New Forest has a lower-than-average sized private rented sector and in recent months an increasing number of landlords are selling their properties, are converting to holiday lets, or wish to raise rents beyond the affordability of their current tenants.
Homelessness due to the end of a private rented tenancy is up 118 per cent across the district.
To help tackle this, the authority has approved an additional £1.3m to supplement existing homelessness budgets, as well as the appointment of two additional homelessness officers.
Cllr Jill Cleary said: “We are now supporting around 40 families from the New Forest in emergency accommodation at any one time.
“As quickly as we secure housing for one of these families another unfortunately loses their current home.
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“I know my housing officers are doing all they can, and it is the right time to increase the resources we have available.”
Richard Knott, service manager for housing options, said: “We’ve introduced a number of additional initiatives to tackle the recent local increase in homelessness, including providing 43 new units of temporary accommodation, with more planned across the district.
“Plus, we plan to offer a guarantor facility very soon, to those households facing difficulty securing new private rented accommodation.
“We encourage landlords to approach the council before taking possession action to assess what support we may be able to provide.
“We know this is a very stressful and difficult time for many of the households who approach us, but we have trained officers visiting people who are at threat of homelessness to provide early help.
“If you are facing homelessness, please use our online form at https://newforest.gov.uk/housing as soon as possible so we can start your assessment and provide you with realistic housing options.”
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