Councils spend hundreds of thousands of pounds putting families up in hotels

Taxpayers last year forked out more than £270,000 to cover the cost of overnight stays, latest figures show.

Wolverhampton City Council housed the most at 246 individuals between April 1, 2014 and January 31 this year at a cost of £185,895.

Sandwell Council said it currently has 18 households living in hotels in the region. And in 2013 to 2014 it cost £48,281 to shelter residents with nowhere to go, with a net cost to the authority of £10,138. The rest is covered by housing benefits.

The authority's deputy leader and cabinet member for neighbourhoods, Councillor Mahboob Hussain, said that the length of time a household stays in hotels varies, depending on individual circumstances, but normally it is for no longer than six weeks.

Dudley Council's cabinet member for housing Councillor Gaye Partridge said: "As a council, there are some situations where we have a duty to find people somewhere to stay when they find themselves homeless.

"Last year we helped 109 families find temporary accommodation in local bed and breakfasts

"The majority of people stay between one and four nights and we are predicting a £20,000 spend on the service this year."

In Walsall between April 2014 and April 2015, Walsall Council has accommodated a total of 61 households and of these 21 had children. On average they stay seven nights. The total cost is £6,000 with the council recouping the costs from housing benefit contributions where possible.

Cannock Chase District Council said it had two single people awaiting an offer of suitable rented housing when their hotel stay will cease. In the financial year 2013 to 2014 it spent £46,445 offset by £29,508 in housing benefit payments on temporary housing.

Lichfield District Council said hotels are only used in an emergency if there are no rooms available in bed and breakfasts or guest houses.

In the last year it temporarily housed 11 families in hotels for an average of four nights at a cost of £2,338.

Stafford Borough Council said it had no-one presently in hotels, but people usually stayed one night at a cost of about £140.

Althia Hylton has been staying at the Royal Hotel in Walsall along with her children for the past two years.

When her partner Joseph Merrick died in 2012 she was evicted from a privately rented house in Yew Tree, Sandwell.

Miss Hylton and her children, aged 10, seven and five, are being put up by Sandwell Council at a cost of £65 a night.

Sandwell's neighbourhoods' boss, Councillor Mahboob Hussain, said Miss Hylton's case was 'complicated', but said she was being given support in line with government guidance.

Miss Hylton, who was born in Jamaica, suffers from depression and is also recovering from blood clots as a result of a recent broken leg.

"All I want is better accommodation for my children to live in. I was evicted after Joseph died because he was entitled to claim housing benefit and I'm not.

"Other people in a similar situation as me who were staying here have been given proper housing. So why am I still here? Other councils like Birmingham put people in here as well, but they've given them houses," Miss Hylton, aged 42, said.

"I thought I was losing my mind over Christmas. I was got really depressed and I wanted to kill myself. I took an overdose because I thought it was the only way out for my kids. The hospital's mental health nurse comes round to see me now which helps.

"I don't think it's fair for them to hold people like me back because it's affecting and my children's future. It's just not right. To house me here is costing the council £65 a night. I've been here two years now. Plus the council gives me an allowance of £118.82 a week to live on," she added.