TWO houses could be bought by a council as an alternative to placing homeless people in expensive bed and breakfast accommodation.

The idea to purchase properties to house people in need on a temporary basis comes from officers at Weymouth and Portland Borough Council who say it’s a way of cutting costs and saving money for the authority in the long term.

It has been prompted by changes to the benefit system which has seen the council being unable to claim as much money as it used to from the government for putting people in B&Bs. If the council provided the accommodation itself it would save about £30,000 a year.

Tuesday’s management committee is being recommended to back the idea and approve the release of £450,000 from capital receipts to fund the acquisition of two properties to house up to eight vulnerable people. A further £16,000 would have to be released from a special reserve to equip and furnish properties.

Councillors will hear the authority needs to move fast on this, so they will be asked to give the chief executive a green light to proceed with the purchases in consultation with the relevant officers and Cllr Gill Taylor, who is responsible for housing.

A report to the committee by Head of Housing Clive Milone says the current net cost of placing homeless people in B&Bs is about £165,000 year.

This is the difference between what can be claimed back through the benefits system when a person is placed in accommodation and the amount paid to the b&b.

Mr Milone says of April this year, single people under 35 can claim housing benefit while in temporary accommodation.

But for a typical B&B bill of £350 a week only the housing benefit of £114 can be claimed back with the council having to make up the rest.

The council cannot claim back the difference, and in the last financial year this figure was £30,000.

With homelessness on the rise and these benefit system changes expected to start affecting other groups such as families in future, the costs to the council will only rise.

Mr Milone said if the council had properties of its own, it would be able to charge occupants and recover more money through housing benefit plus other charges.

Providing an alternative to B&Bs will help people feel supported and safe and to live more independently while they are helped into accommodation, he says.