The Government has launched a second round of funding for councils to help resettle new arrivals to the UK and reduce the risk of homelessness.
The majority of the £250 million second round of the Local Authority Housing Fund is for housing people on Afghan resettlement schemes who are currently in bridging accommodation, mainly hotels.
Cllr James Jamieson, LGA Chairman, said: “We are pleased that the Government is continuing to work with the LGA and councils on funding to help families move to their own homes, reduce homelessness risks and help local partners acquire more housing.
“It is helpful the Government is continuing to respond in a more joined-up way to issues across all programmes for new arrivals.
“We look forward to continuing to work with them to identify and implement further solutions to growing accommodation challenges. The flexibility to open up these new or repurposed homes to more general use in the long term will also assist with housing challenges across local communities.
“There continues to be a crisis across the refugee and asylum system, compounded by a housing crisis and the rapidly approaching deadline for Afghan families to move on from hotels by the end of the summer.
“Councils have been at the sharp end of the rise in the number of people presenting as homeless, and need urgent solutions to pressing housing needs in the short and the long term across all the schemes that welcome new arrivals to the UK.”
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