A council has cut its use of hotels and Bed & Breakfasts (B&Bs) for families in temporary accommodation by 84 per cent.
The move, which Greenwich council achieved in just 18 months, has reduced pressure on its finances by around £5.88million.
Cllr Anthony Okereke, Leader of Greenwich council, said: “We’re leading the way in London at reducing the numbers of families in hotels or B&Bs and have been able to use a holistic approach that harnesses our collective expertise to come up with effective and efficient solutions that will have a lasting impact on people’s lives.”
In Greenwich there are 2,000 homeless households in temporary accommodation and another 26,000 on the housing register, with only 1,000 of them re-housed each year.
With increasing numbers of homelessness across the capital, councils have been relying on hotels or B&Bs – which have no cooking facilities and cannot be booked for longer than 28 nights – to house families.
Cllr Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness said: “Living in a hotel room can have a real impact on families’ well-being during an already vulnerable time in their lives.
“It is also very expensive for the council.”
In just 12 months the number of hotel rooms needed for temporary accommodation in Greenwich increased from around five rooms a night in September 2022 to 269 rooms in September 2023 – resulting in costs of around £22,000 a night.
In April last year, the council reached an unprecedented peak of 280 rooms a night.
To tackle the crisis, the council’s housing and digital services worked with 40 experts from regeneration, finance and welfare services to find ways to drive down the council’s use of hotel and B&Bs and target resources towards early interventions.
Initial interventions included speeding up the administration of homelessness assessments by prioritising families and using 50 per cent of 133 new council homes and empty homes to provide 100 direct offers for people spending the longest time in temporary accommodation.
Targeted support was also offered to older people and council tenants living in temporary accommodation to help them move into settled homes, whilst private sector tenants at risk of homelessness were supported to retain their tenancies.
Recent figures from March show that the number of households in hotels had dropped to 44 and a drastic reduction in cost for the council from £29,500 at its peak in October 2023 to around £3,600 a night in March 2025.
Cllr Slattery said: “I am so proud that this innovative new joint working has allowed us, in a short space of time, to drive down our use of hotels to virtually nothing.
“Our success means that families are in much better accommodation, and we’re saving millions on what should only be reserved for absolute emergencies.
“The housing crisis hasn’t ended, but we’ve made great strides in this area – and we’ll continue to work to end other forms of temporary accommodation that aren’t suitable for families, by April next year.”
Pictured top: The entrance to Woolwich Town Hall, where Greenwich council hold its meetings (Picture: Joe Coughlan)
