Public sector costs of board and lodging accommodation for homeless households in London

Abstract

Abstract This paper represents an attempt to assess the total and comparative costs to the public sector of using board and lodging accommodation to house homeless households in London. Such an analysis is timely, given the rate of increase both in homelessness and in the use of this form of accommodation. After identifying relevant public sector costs it is estimated that the annual costs of keeping 4,000 households in such accommodation are between £30 million and £38 million. A comparison of the costs of keeping three types of household in board and lodging with those incurred under policies of new build, public sector acquisition of private sector dwellings and public sector void rehabilitation suggest significant savings from the alternatives to board and lodging. It is suggested that one way in which such investment could be kept within current capital allocation totals is through earmarking part of the allocation total for bids from authorities with severe homelessness problems.