Every week I see, and read most of them, scores and scores of articles about the ‘housing crisis’, the ‘homelessness emergency’, how ‘something must be done’.

And yet it isn’t, certainly not with anything approaching any urgency, which is what we need.

Figures released by London Councils in March 2023 showed that London boroughs collectively spent £90 million per month on temporary accommodation (TA) with 61,000 households in TA, which is roughly 170,000 people.

This included 1 in 23 children as homeless.

In August 2023, London Councils and the G15 Members launched Project 123 (named after the 1 in 23 homeless children), “…to explore potential solutions for the current temporary accommodation crisis in the Capital.”

Shockingly, they now need to re-brand as Project 121.

Analysis in October 2024 reveals that London boroughs now collectively spend £114m every month– or £4m daily – on temporary accommodation. An increase from last year of £24m per month - £288 MILLION per year!

The figures also show boroughs’ spending on temporary accommodation jumped by a dramatic 68% in just one year with more than 183,000 Londoners estimated to be homeless and living in temporary accommodation.

That number of people in temporary accommodation includes almost 90,000 children – 1 in 21.

In these past 18 months we have been working with providers on a temporary planning permission, lease model, temporary housing solution. We have undertaken feasibilities for multiple London and South East Councils and Registered providers (two of which are in the G15). We have looked around 25 empty sites they own which either have planning but are stalled, are empty for future permanent development in a few years, are half used car parks, are old garage sites or are spare land that could be used for temporary housing.

Our feasibilities add up to around 500 homes, so approximately 1,600 people – all of which could be delivered (subject to the planning process which is a whole other discussion) within 6 months.

Okay, 500 is only a drop in the ocean but what if 10 companies were doing the same, that is 5,000 homes or 100 companies delivering 50,000 homes.

And how many have got beyond feasibility stage in the last 18 months?

Zero.

We have been trapped in prevarication, committee discussions, what-ifery, this department not talking to that department, the procurement methodology needing to be changed – to be honest, fear. Fear of getting it wrong, so it is easier to do nothing.

And yet, each month we still have the articles, the quotes, the talking heads that keep telling us we need to address this crisis, the headlines of how ‘something must be done’. We still have nearly everyone we meet at the Councils and the RPs desperately wanting to do something but then getting trapped in the system that seems designed to make it difficult to achieve. Each month we still have the Councils in London spending £114m on TA.

Each month we get ever closer to the 1 in 21 children becoming 1 in 20.

Amazing, truly brilliant, research is being done with some fabulous reports and ideas showing what can be changed immediately to help alleviate the crisis. Lots of us are trying to do things so Government, the GLA, Councils and RP’s, please let’s stop the prevarication, the ridiculous bureaucracy and genuinely treat this as a crisis and respond to the emergency it is.

Let’s get some emergency legislation to make the decision making easier, the planning easier, the funding easier, the procurement easier and the delivery easier and get these homes built.

And please do let us know if you fancy a coffee and a chat about it.