More than 800 families living in emergency housing in Cornwall

There are more than 800 families living in emergency housing in Cornwall, according to new council figures.

The number was revealed on Tuesday during a full meeting of Cornwall Council and shows a rise of almost 100 families in 12 months.

The accommodation includes hotel rooms, caravan parks, and is believed to cost £10m a year to fund.

Olly Monk, portfolio holder for housing, said they "feel, cautiously, that it's plateauing".

The discussion was raised at County Hall by the independent group leader Loic Rich, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Mr Rich said: "I'm sure you'll agree that just one family in a hotel room is too many really.

"It costs a huge amount of money to house people in hotels - millions a year."

Mr Monk said there were 822 families in emergency and temporary accommodation, and that the "figure is slowly rising".

He added: "We feel that some of the interventions we've put in around the Homechoice register and the way that will change will help that figure."

Cornwall Council has installed temporary cabins for homeless people in an effort to cut spending on bed and breakfasts or in budget hotels.

The Homechoice scheme is a housing register where households can register and apply for affordable homes owned and managed by the council and its partners.

Mr Monk said: "We get more and more people finding themselves in dire situations due to the fact that they're losing their rented accommodation.

"We aim to build and buy as many council homes as we possibly can to start absorbing some of those numbers."

Mr Monk said the solution was "to own as much of that temporary and emergency accommodation" as possible to "reduce the amount of money we have to give to third parties".

He added: "It takes three years from when a planning application comes in until someone has a key and that's if it's passed first time around. It's an immense issue and we're spending a lot of resourcing on it."

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