COUNCIL chiefs have approved the formation of a housing purchase fund.

A report on the issue came before the cabinet at its meeting on Monday.

The purpose of it was to seek the cabinet’s approval to establishing a fund for the purchase of properties in order to ‘house those residents of the borough for whom we have a duty of care’.

The report said: “The growth directorate has been working extensively with colleagues across the adult social care, children’s social care and public health services and this proposal is one of a number aimed at extending the quality and range of accommodation for residents of the borough for whom we have a duty of care whilst also reducing costs.

“This initiative follows an unprecedented growth in demand for supported accommodation in the borough. The number of children and adults seeking specialist accommodation and temporary accommodation has grown materially over the past ten years, and the cost of sourcing that accommodation through external providers has also increased.

“This has led to an exponential growth in costs that in turn have created considerable budgetary pressure on the services provided by the families and wellbeing teams which are no longer sustainable, and this paper seeks to try and redress some of that pressure.

“The council currently has an acute lack of certain types of specialist accommodation, including care leavers’ apartments, housing for adults with learning difficulties, elderly accommodation and homes for the homeless. The lack of such accommodation is leading to exponential pressure on the budgets across the families and wellbeing directorates as increased reliance is placed on private sector providers, including the use of out-of-borough placements.

“The proposed purchase of properties will enable us to address a number of these issues by enabling the council to compete for properties.”

As recommended, the cabinet approved the formation of a housing purchase fund up to the amount stated in the Part Two report – which was discussed in private – to be ‘funded from borrowing and added to the council’s capital programme’.