'Real progress' made in efforts to reduce area's homelessness

THOUGH hundreds of homeless households remain in temporary accommodation across Kirklees, “real progress” has been made in reducing the numbers, council bosses have said.

- By ABIGAIL MARLOW

On Monday a meeting of Kir-Kees Council's Growth and Regeneration Scrutiny Panel heard an update on the local authority's progress in tackling the demand for temporary accommodation, including bed and breakfasts, for housing people facing homelessness.

The council also uses self-contained houses/flats, hostels, domestic abuse refuges and supported housing as temporary accommodation.

A council report explains that over the past five years, there has been a “fairly consistent” number of homeless households in Kirklees, though more have been at “crisis point’, requiring temporary accommodation.

Between 2020 and 2025, the figure peaked as of March 31, 2024, with 423 Kirklees households in temporary accommodation - 200 of them housed in B&Bs. By March 31, 2025, 375 households were in temporary accommodation, with 132 in B&Bs.

Cabinet Member for Housing and Transport, Clr Moses Crook, told the meeting that there had been a “significant increase” in presentations of homelessness both in Kirklees and across the country due to several factors, including the cost of living crisis and reductions in available social housing stock.