9 July 2025, 09:32
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LBC can reveal councils in England are forking out millions of pounds storing the belongings of families stuck in temporary accommodation.
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Figures obtained under Freedom of Information show £4.57m was spent over the last 12-month period because local authorities don’t have anywhere to store possessions while families wait to be rehoused.
The most recent numbers show there are more than 46,000 households without a place to call home, and that includes more than 165,000 children.
A mum of two from Merseyside, who chose to remain anonymous, told LBC: “You’re just told ‘this is what we’ve got for you’, and if you don’t accept the help you don’t get it.
“There’s only so long you can live in a situation like this. Your mental health goes downhill.
“I don’t have an oven at the moment in temporary accommodation – just the basics of their couch and I have no furniture which is mine. Not having your own comforts in this situation is mentally draining, especially when you have kids as well.
“You’ve got nothing, you’re just in limbo.”
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Of the 313 councils we asked, 161 provided data. In many cases, councils are not spending anything at all, while some are spending eye-watering amounts; For example Lewisham posted a figure of £248,179 while Portsmouth spent £204,097.
A spokesperson for Lewisham Council told LBC: “The cost of storing the belongings of households in temporary accommodation has historically been high for Lewisham Council. In recognition of this, we designed a new policy aimed at clarifying the council’s responsibilities and reducing these costs.
“The policy was adopted in October 2024. Policy implementation and better management of storage arrangements has resulted in a 48% drop in costs between 2023/24 and 2024/25.
“Crucially, the new policy ensures that we help households in need, in line with statutory duties. It is appropriate that we are able to offer this option to vulnerable people living through a very stressful upheaval. However, the policy also sets out a more structured approach to charging residents for the service, where appropriate.
“We have also put in place monitoring of long-term storage arrangements so we can be sure we are only offering the service for as long as it is needed.”
Cllr Darren Sanders, Cabinet Member for Housing and Tackling Homelessness at Portsmouth Council, said: “At the end of last year we highlighted that in Portsmouth the number of households in temporary accommodation had gone up by 54% in the last year to more than 500, while the costs had risen by 84%.
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“We are addressing the increase in demand in several ways, including a revised allocations policy, purchasing our own temporary accommodation, and introducing earlier interventions to prevent more cases of homelessness. It is also worth noting that we have limited space in Portsmouth and temporary accommodation costs may be higher than in other areas as a result.
“We are reviewing storage costs to see if savings can be made whilst honouring our legal duty to protect people’s belongings.”
A spokesperson for Arun Council, which spent £125,000, told LBC: “As part of our statutory responsibilities, we ensure the protection of clients’ personal property when they are owed specific homelessness duties. A reasonable charge is applied to cover the cost of providing this service.”
Hastings Borough Council spent £125,000 and told LBC: “We have a statutory duty to protect the belongings of residents in Temporary Accommodation and given our high rates of households forced into homelessness through a lack of affordable housing and the freeze in Local Housing Allowance we would expect to spend considerable amounts to meet this duty. However, we have just retendered for our storage service so are working to bring the cost down.”
Labour have vowed to build 1.5m new homes by 2029.