Wigan householders to be asked to rent spare rooms out to homeless

It comes amid a soaring demand for social housing across the borough over the past seven years.

Town hall bosses have been prompted to put in place new measures to address the problem, including urging householders to rent out spare rooms.

A report to the council’s cabinet said there are currently 12,000 people on the housing waiting list, compared with 8,957 in 2019 and 5,682 in 2018.

The cause of the increase has been partly driven by the number of people giving up as private landlords.

Authored by Wigan’s director of place, Aiden Thatcher, the report said the economic downturn was one cause of the crisis.

“Increased regulatory requirements" have also driven a number of private landlords out of the market, and increased rents linked to rising mortgage costs to “unaffordable levels” have reduced the availability of affordable properties, he said.

The three main reasons for housing applications resulting from homelessness were cited as people being asked to leave by friends or family, including relationship breakdown, evictions known as Section 21 evictions from the private sector, and domestic abuse.

Mr Thatcher said: “The homelessness situation has recently been further exacerbated by factors such as the cost of living pressures and limited ability to afford accommodation; positive decisions on rights to remain following national immigration policy; early prison releases and an increased proprotion with ‘no fixed abode’ on release; increased comlplexity with individuals and limited specialist accommodation capacity to meet health needs; and limited temporary accommodation options.”

The cabinet has now approved a new homeless and rough sleeping strategy.

New measures include “all agencies working to tackle the problems that people face at an earlier stage” and for the council to retain its central role in delivering homelessness prevention and support services, but supported by many other partners.

It will also continue to build homes and adapt others.

Householders will be encouraged to offer rooms to help short-term housing solutions for people in return for rent.

The council will also seek to secure more homes from private landlords to access more affordable, safe accommodation, including forming a ‘"landlord hub”.

Empty homes will also be brought back into use wherever possible and the authority will look to increase availability and quality of temporary housing.

The report concludes: “We want to ensure that individuals, where possible, are supported earlier to prevent hitting crisis services and can access the right support.

“The strategy complements the work being undertaken at a Greater Manchester level to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness.”

Coun Nazia Rehman, the council’s portfolio holder for finance, resources and transformation, said: “There are too many people at risk of homelessness. It’s high time we put a focus on this issue.”

And Coun Susan Gambles, portfolio holder for housing and welfare said: “We’ve got work on our hands but at the same time we’ve got the strategy and the partnerships to do it, as well as the dedicated staff.

Coun Dane Anderton added: “This is a really good report. Interestingly, it’s also private rented sector S21 evictions [that are causing homelessness], we know many landlords are selling up at the moment and it’s causing many disruptions, and increasingly domestic abuse is still up there as well.”