Housing homeless in city centre hotels at £75 a night ‘unfair’ on families who have to witness street drinking and drug taking, councillor warns

A meeting heard Wakefield Council currently spends £75 a night for each person housed in hotel accommodation.

Council chiefs told a committee how the local authority was becoming increasingly reliant on hotels to house some of its most vulnerable residents.

The council’s climate change and environmental wellbeing overview and scrutiny committee heard claims that the problem had led to a concentration of anti-social behaviour in the city centre.

Mohammed Ayub, councillor for Wakefield East ward, told the meeting he had been aware of problems around Citilodge hotel, on Lower Warrengate.

He said: “We have seen a massive increase in the number of people that have been accommodated at some of the hotels.

“I wish that accommodation could be spread a bit more, and not be concentrated in one area, because it has a massive impact.

“We have had incidents around the city centre that, because of the way people have been accommodated, unfairly, it has been to the community’s detriment.

“It has meant that families who walk into the city centre actually witness things like open drug taking and drinking.

“They have had no other way of getting into the city centre or have changed the route they have taken into the city centre.”

Maureen Cummings, the council’s cabinet member for communities, poverty and health, said: “We were aware of the problems at Citilodge.

“There has been lots of stuff put in there to try help to assist. I mean more security and CCTV cameras.

“All that has been put in there, but once people come out of there and start walking around there is nothing you can do to control that.”

Coun Cummings continued: “We don’t want to be paying £75 per night. We would much prefer to pay less and have much more dispersal.

“But sometimes things happen that we have no control over.”

Anthony Sadler, service director for communities, said: “I think the issue is that hotels are used by lots of different agencies, including the government as well.

“I share your concern about the locations and the places that we use, particularly around hotels.

“We are actively looking at other opportunities across the whole district.”

Mr Sadler added: “As we are using particular hotels it can have anti-social behaviour issues within that area.”

The meeting heard the council has fewer than 300 homes in its property portfolio, including 210 houses leased from Wakefield District Housing and 54 in the private rented sector.

Coun Cummings said the housing stock available to the council was unable to cope with the number of people in need of accommodation.

She described the homelessness problem in the district as “a storm waiting to happen.”

Coun Cummings added: “We have a heavy reliance, sadly, on hotels.

“About ten years ago, the government said we should reduce the demand on hotels because families don’t want to be in hotels.

“But sadly, we have had to become more and more reliant on hotels for temporary accommodation.

“We are desperately looking at ways of reducing that.”

Coun Cummings said the authority’s housing stock has increased since 2018 but there are still not enough properties.

She said: “We are looking for other opportunities. We have lots of properties that are out there that could be refurbished.

“To refurbish a property for a family is much better than sticking someone in a hotel for £75 per night, which is what it costs, certainly within the city centre.

“If someone turns up with their bags we have a statutory duty to make sure they are safe for that night and subsequent nights.”

Domestic abuse, poverty and the breakdown of family relationships were among reasons given for people becoming homeless.

The committee also heard how rough sleeping is also believed to be on the increase across the district.

Figures show that there were 106 reports of rough sleepers during 2002, compared to 99 in 2021, 89 in 2020 and 80 in 2019.

On any given night during 2022 there was an estimated average of seven rough sleepers across the district.

Mr Sadler said rough sleepers are offered accommodation at Marsh Way, near Wakefield city centre.

He said: “It’s a fantastic service but sometimes people don’t want the support. If they tell us to go away we will still go back.

“They are vulnerable people at the end of the day but it is also about individual rights as well.

“The work we are doing with the health hubs is all about trying to get to people early.

“The last thing we want is people coming to us with their belongings and bags saying they have lost their property.

“We want to be able to work with them earlier to try and help them.”

Coun David Dagger asked Mr Sadler: “What is the cost to the council of temporary and hotel accommodation?”

Mr Sadler replied: “I don’t have that exact figure, but I think I can get that figure for you.”

A Freedom of Information request, in May last year, revealed Wakefield Council had spent £5m on hotel fees for the homeless in the previous five years.

The statistics showed an increase in the amount spent on short-term hotel rooms, from just under £100,000 for the financial year 2016/17, to £1.3 million in 2020/21.

It also revealed fifteen hotels had been used across the district to house homeless people.

The hotels included: York House Hotel, Featherstone Hotel, Bank House Hotel, Citilodge Hotel, Hotel Accor, Castleford, Stanley View Guest House, Rowlands Croft Guest House, Crofton Arms, Travelodge, Holiday Inn, Premier Inn, Cedar Court Hotel, Nite Inn, Hotel St Pierre and Kirklands Hotel.