Devon council makes new homes for homeless a ‘top priority’ with second homes tax funding

Second homes council tax is being used to help buy properties for homeless people in West Devon.

The £80,000 will be added to government funding to purchase two more homes in the borough.

The decision by West Devon Borough Council’s hub committee followed the reopening of 20 Plymouth Road in Tavistock on Tuesday, where three new flats have been created by the council to provide temporary accommodation for local people.

The borough has the least number of people who are homeless on its register throughout all the areas of Devon but housing is a top priority for the authority.

The new flats, two with one bedroom and one with two bedrooms, are expected to save the council between £45,000 and £75,000 annually on its temporary accommodation bill which was nearly 60 per cent over budget last year at a cost of £474,000.

This half a million pound project was funded in partnership with Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority.

Members of West Devon’s hub committee fully endorsed spending the second homes council tax on acquiring more temporary homes.

The authority will use £230,000 from the third tranche of the Local Authority Housing Fund from the government and external borrowing to make up the cash needed.

One of the homes will be used for people who have been displaced by war and conflict, as is the remit of the government funding, in the first instance.

Leader of the council Cllr Mandy Ewings (Ind, Tavistock South West), who attended the opening of the Plymouth Road flats in the council-owned building, which was formerly offices, said with the doctors’ surgery, hospital and shops all within easy walking distance and the bus station next door, the flats were perfectly situated and a car was not needed.

She said it had been a good day for West Devon Borough Council but added: “I wish we had more properties we owned ourselves that we could do work on.”

Deputy leader of the council and portfolio holder for housing Cllr Mark Renders (Ind, Dartmoor) said 23 people in temporary accommodation in the borough was a low number compared to the rest of Devon but the council was not prepared to rest on its laurels.

“We will always do our best for the vulnerable people of West Devon,” he said.