Plan to cut number of families in temporary housing

A plan to cut the number of families or households with children in temporary accommodation by about 15% has been proposed by a council.

Slough Borough Council, which must provide temporary accommodation to residents who need it, said about 1,050 households with children were being housed by it in September 2025.

As part of a new strategy, it is seeking to cut that to about 900 by 2028/29 but says it faces major challenges to do so.

Last year, the council said it spent about £40m providing temporary housing and homelessness services.

It said in the two years from September 2023, the demand for temporary accommodation more than doubled.

The council included its "ambition" to reduce families' and other households' use of temporary accommodation in a strategy that will be used until 2031.

Karen Shaw, the council's director of housing needs and support, said Slough is not comparable to other parts of Berkshire.

"Statistically the challenges we face around homelessness are much more akin to a London borough," she said.

Shaw said that the "most successful way" to cut temporary accommodation costs is to put fewer people in such accommodation and to move people on.

She said demand is increasing and that the council has not met a recent target to reduce its use of temporary accommodation.

"One of the things I think we've struggled with is the staffing resources to sufficiently mobilise some of the interventions that we need to make," she added.

The number of people who are rough sleeping are "relatively small" in the town but some have no access to public benefits and funds.

"Obviously [rough sleepers] are at the most acute, most vulnerable end of what we do," Shaw said.

"We've got quite a challenging cohort to work with in Slough because a significant proportion of the rough sleepers that we're working with…have got no recourse to public funds."

Government grant funding of £2.4m will be received this year to fund homelessness and rough sleeping support.