Question prompts revelation Rugby could have more than 100 children living in temporary accommodation

The impact of homelessness on children in the Rugby area will be highlighted at a meeting of the borough council today, Tuesday.
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Cllr Ramesh Srivastava (Lab, Newbold and Brownsover) has tabled a question on the subject as part of the full council meeting taking place at 7pm at the town hall – with the response suggesting the figure could be as high as 125.

His question highlights the national situation and asks for the details for Rugby.

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The question says: “Latest figures for England show there were 120,710 dependent homeless children living in temporary accommodation in December, highlighting the urgent need to build to build more affordable homes.

Cllr Ramesh Srivastava put the question to this week's full meeting of Rugby Borough Council.Cllr Ramesh Srivastava put the question to this week's full meeting of Rugby Borough Council.
Cllr Ramesh Srivastava put the question to this week's full meeting of Rugby Borough Council.

“Can the leader of the council confirm how many children and dependants in Rugby are currently homeless and living in temporary accommodations?”

The reply from council leader Cllr Seb Lowe (Con, Coton and Boughton), has been circulated ahead of the meeting.

He will thank Cllr Srivastava for the question and then say: “We currently have 84 households, including those comprising solely of single people, living in temporary accommodation in the borough. This includes 125 dependent children.

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"There are no children living in Houses in Multiple Occupation.

“However, it should be caveated that of the 84 households, we are still determining the status of 69 households, in respect of homelessness and in accordance with the provisions of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

"For families temporarily accommodated in bed and breakfast the longest stay is six weeks, as prescribed under the homelessness legislation.

"We ensure that families in B&B settings are prioritised for a move on to alternative temporary accommodation before the six weeks deadline.

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"We acknowledge that bed and breakfast accommodation is not ideal therefore we only use this when we have no other option. Instead, our preference is to accommodate families with dependent children in either self-contained private sector leased properties or council-owned accommodation.”

He will also point out the approach will vary according to the complexities of the situation and the availability of suitable properties.

And he will add: “We continue to apply a housing options approach to supporting these households and in doing so, it is often legitimate for us to enable an offer accommodation in the private rented sector to meet their needs longer term.”

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