Enfield Council’s Housing Gate scheme becomes a success

Members of Enfield council will be presented with a report on June 17 that informs a company set up by Enfield Council to buy homes and use them to move families out of expensive nightly accommodation into private rented homes is expected to buy its 100th property soon.

Housing Gateway was established by Enfield Council to purchase family homes in the borough and surrounding area, with an aim of providing an alternative option to costly nightly accommodation, which the Council can use to move families out of temporary accommodation into the private rented sector.

The company was set up in March last year as a response to local housing pressures due to a £3.3m budget for the council to decrease the number of people put into temporary accommodation in 2014/15.

Between December 2013 and 31st March 2015, the number of households in temporary accommodation in Enfield rose from 2,188 to 2,764 - a 26% rise. This figure put Enfield in the top five areas nationally for the number of households in temporary accommodation.

In response, by March 31, Housing Gateway had purchased 72 properties with a further 53 accepted. The company also secured £1.8m from the Greater London Authority to renovate 56 properties and improve living standards for tenants. So far 34 families have been moved out of temporary accommodation and a further 38 properties are being renovated to enable more people to move into them.

Additional homes will be bought this year as the company looks to expand its portfolio.

Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Housing Regeneration, Cllr Ahmet Oykener, said: “Housing Gateway is helping the council reduce temporary accommodation budget pressures, secure good quality local properties for local families and drives up the standards of accommodation in Enfield by ensuring the properties it lets are well managed and of a good standard.

“The reality is that in recent years the demand for housing in Enfield has sky rocketed and simultaneously we have found other London boroughs placing families in temporary accommodation in Enfield because it is cheaper than in their own borough. That meant we had to do something radical and we have – in creating Housing Gateway.

“I’m confident we can build on the success of the first year, acquire more properties and move more families out of temporary accommodation, continuing to reduce our costs in this area and enabling us to spend our budgets on the vital services our residents depend upon. This is a practical, effective and intelligent response to serious budget pressures and I am delighted we have been able to find an effective solution to and incredibly taxing problem.”

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