Homelessness Duty 'Would Cost Councils £44m'

Introducing a new homelessness prevention duty would initially cost English councils £44m a year in total, a report has found. A panel of housing experts, organised by Crisis, officially published its recommendations calling on ministers to introduce new duties on councils to prevent people becoming homeless. The provisional research findings, undertaken by academics and published by Crisis, found that local authorities would spend in total £43.9m a year on homelessness prevention under the new scheme. However, it found that these extra costs would eventually be offset by £46.8m a year due to fewer full homelessness duty cases, because people would get help quicker. The CLG has not confirmed whether or not it would match new legislation with extra money for councils. Read more on Inside Housing.