The Annual £1bn Temporary Accommodation Bill Represents More than Wasted Money

The annual cost of temporary accommodation is now running at over £1bn as more than 1.15m households wait for social housing to become available.

Naturally, there is more than just a financial cost involved. More than 30% of last year’s total was spent on emergency B&Bs. According to Shelter, these are ‘some of the worst places for families with children to live.’

And sadly, things are getting worse rather than better. Government figures reveal that there are over 17,000 fewer social homes than last year. 23,740 were sold or demolished and only 6,287 new social rent homes were delivered. The cost of temporary accommodation has increased by 76% over five years.

A Way Out of the Crisis

Under-investment in social housing goes back many years and the crisis has now become acute. To change the situation (and the lives of people trapped in unsuitable accommodation) there has to be a way to build large numbers of good quality and genuinely affordable social homes quickly and cost-effectively.

Systemised Housing is part of the solution. It brings a mass production mindset to the social housing shortage. This means repeatable quality, shorter and more reliable build times and known costs, which creates the ideal platform for significantly ramping up the creation of new homes.

Simplicity from Feasibility to Handover

Osborne is working in partnership with offsite construction specialists Innovaré Systems to offer a simple end-to-end process that is focused on delivering new, energy efficient social housing at scale and to a reliable budget. The development process covers every stage from feasibility to handover.

Systemised Housing is built around standardised floor plans for apartments and two, three and four bed houses. Each has a prefabricated bathroom pod and a structure built from Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs).

Standardisation of the product brings greater certainty over costs and timings to guarantee the viability of projects. Additionally, the factory-based production process brings maximum reliability to the quality and performance of the homes created to minimise maintenance and lifecycle costs.

Systemised housing is a viable solution that could help cut the financial and human cost of temporary accommodation. Visit our resource centre to find out more.