PLAN TO USE THIS TOWER BLOCK FOR CITY’S HOMELESS

COUNCIL WANTS HIGH-RISE BUILDING AFTER REVEALING IT SPENDS £100 A NIGHT PLACING PEOPLE IN TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION

COVENTRY council has agreed to enter into a lease for a high-rise tower block, to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people in the city.

The council is currently spending as much as £100 a night placing people into temporary accommodation such as hotels and bed and breakfasts.

It means the council has spent a huge £4.1m placing homeless people into temporary accommodation this year alone - nearly a 620 per cent increase on the £570,000 expenditure in 2013/14.

Around 350 families are living in B&Bs and temporary accommodation across the city shockingly some for as long as to two-and-a-half years, Councillor Ed Ruane said.

That is despite the council being legally obliged find suitable accommodation for families with children who have been in bed and breakfasts for six weeks.

Cabinet member for housing Cllr Ruane outlined a plan to address the issue at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, which included entering into a five-year lease of Caradoc Hall in Caradoc Close, Henley Green.

The 17-storey high-rise block, which had a guide price of £2.6m when it went under the hammer in December 2017 and was previously on the market for £4.2m, will cost the council £1.7m in rent - but this is a significant reduction on B&B and hotel costs.

Cllr Ed Ruane said on Tuesday: “This is not one one option we have got available to use.

“This would place 112 people in accommodation and save the council £1.2m each year.

“Having visited the B&Bs across Coventry the situation is that a lot of these kids are growing up in them, which is clearly not appropriate.

“Is it right and proper that we address that.

“It is also no secret that we are in discussion to build and buy our own houses.”

The lease is be funded from the council’s preallocated 2018/19 budget.

The lease could be signed by December, with the first properties available for use the same month or in January 2019.

The block was initially built by the council in 1965 before being sold to Coventry University for student accommodation in 1985, and then a private investor for £2million in 2008.

It includes space for 102 apartments, but the top two floors - consisting of a further 16 apartments - are currently tenanted and are not part of the deal, although the developers are in talks to acquire the additional apartments. Compared to B&B accommodation, the deal will save £1.22m per year.

Opposition leader Cllr Gary Ridley said: “I absolutely support this. It makes perfect sense, and helps control the overspend.”