PROPERTIES on Portland and in Bridport have been ear-marked for homeless hostel  accommodation.

Dorset Council is planning to convert the Portland Youth Hostel Association building into a 20-25 bed hostel with another 10-12 units at the former Foyer building in Bridport.

The two buildings have been identified as being a relatively quick way of dealing with some of the recent rise in homelessness across the county, much of it brought about by the pandemic.

At the start of lockdown dozens of people who had been staying with friends or family on an informal basis were asked to leave, finding themselves homeless. Others have since found themselves without anywhere to live after losing their job, or taking a cut in pay.

The council says the pandemic doubled the amount of local households it put up in B&B accommodation. At the height of lockdown the council had 156 households in B&Bs, of which 147 were single people. The latest figure (August 7th) showing 139 households, 127 of them single.

The cost of looking after them could amount to an estimated £1.6m over a year, £31,200 per week.

The authority has now bid for £1.2million of Government funding to help it deal with the growing problem and is planning to spend £4.78m over two years buying suitable properties, which could save it £458,000 in 2020/21 and £643,000 in 22/23 – money saved mainly by not having to pay for private B&B spaces.

An estimated 60-80 bed spaces are believed to be needed across the area.

For the 6 month period (Aug 19 – Jan 20) the average number of households in B&B accommodation was 75, and, on average 42 households exceeded the maximum 6 week stay. The council has used a range of properties to upport the homeless including those leased by the council, self-contained mobile homes, shared hostels and even Air B&B homes.

In addition to the hostel spaces at Bridport and Portland the council is also hoping to buy individual properties at a number of locations to create another 20 to 40 bed spaces. This alone has been costed at £2.45m, but could be paid for from a housing fund passed over to Dorset Council by the former West Dorset District Council.

The former Foyer building in Bridport will initially be leased to Dorset Council and converted into self-contained units for single people.

The Magna Housing Association owned building will primarily be used as ‘move on’ accommodation for short-term stays.

Up to £130,000 has already been earmarked for the conversion to create 10-12 bed spaces, but another £100,000 is expected to be needed, which councillors are being asked to approve at a Cabinet meeting on September 8th.

The council hopes, in time, to buy the freehold to reduce its ongoing revenue costs.

Said a report to the meeting: “The accommodation will provide a mixture of supported lettings and move on accommodation where support is steadily reduced to then enable a move into the private sector housing market.”

The Portland property is proposed to be developed in two phases, creating nine bed spaces in the first phase and 23 in the second. The property is currently being leased and provides six bed spaces, reduced because of Covid restrictions, but the authority hopes to also buy the property outright and in the first phase add an extra three beds, with a second phase seeing the conversion of the building into a 20-25 room hostel with en-suite bedrooms with staff support for those at risk of rough sleeping. The cost of this has been put at £1.65m.