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Cost of temporary housing up 1,000% in May’s constituency
THE bill for temporarily housing homeless families in Theresa May’s constituency has soared 1,000%, shocking figures show.
The Prime Minister has been accused of hypocrisy for urging councils to build affordable homes yet blocking plans in Maidenhead, Berks.
Figures obtained by the Daily Mirror show even the affluent town has been hit by the housing crisis.
The local council’s stats showed the annual cost of temporary accommodation had rocketed from £80,039 in 2009/10 to £901,864 in 2016/17 – a 1,027% increase.
An earlier Mirror probe revealed the crisis is costing taxpayers nationally £1billion a year.
In March, Mrs May warned that councils could be stripped of their planning powers if they fail to build enough homes.
But later she admitted: “I have opposed a number of developments in my own constituency.”
Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey said: “People will see a Prime Minister that says one thing nationally but does the other locally.”
Graham Lee, of Maidenhead Labour Party, called for more genuinely affordable social housing “instead of just the highend luxury housing that appears on the rental market, and which our taxes fund via housing benefit payments to landlords. “In Maidenhead, the current defined affordable housing – which is based on inflated market rates – is particularly unfair on ordinary working people.” A Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead council spokesman said that it is committed to supporting the needs of the homeless and building more affordable homes. Government figures showed nationally there were 79,190 households in temporary places in September 2017.