Luton council's homelessness strategy making 'significant progress' - but there's 'still a long way to go'

The Luton homelessness and rough sleeping strategy 2026 to 2031 “sets out the council’s preventative multi-agency partnership approach to help homeless people become more resilient and build a better future”, according to a council report.

Local authorities are required to produce a five-year strategy, with a robust action plan and outcomes framework that shows how improvements are delivered through the action plan, it explained.

“LBC aims to reduce households in temporary accommodation to under 800 by December 2028 and then continue to decrease it year-on-year, as well as halving long-term rough sleeping from 31 in November 2025 to 15 by the end of 2029.”

Deputy council leader and Independent Alliance Group Northwell councillor Rob Roche explained in the strategy document: “We recognise the causes of homelessness are complex and often interconnected.

“Rising housing costs, economic pressures, relationship breakdown, mental and physical health challenges, domestic abuse and wider inequalities continue to increase the risk of people becoming homeless.

“These challenges demand more than reactive responses. They require bold leadership, strong partnerships, and a relentless focus on prevention.”

Portfolio holder for housing, temporary accommodation and building control councillor Roche told the committee: “There were more than 5,000 annual approaches for homelessness services, while local housing allowance is much lower than market rents making renting privately unaffordable for low income households,” he said.

“With more than 12,000 households on the council’s housing register, only 450 properties become available a year. A sum of £41m has been invested on buying properties for use as temporary accommodation in the last five years.

“The average house price in Luton in May 2026 was £283,000 and average net annual household income was £39,823. During those five years, significant progress has been made through extra resources around rough sleeping and supporting those with complex needs.

“Temporary accommodation figures have fallen from 1,197 in March 2021 to 912 in March this year, and now below 900, rough sleeping has reduced from 43 in November 2019 to 16 last November, and reduce households in bed and breakfast from 187 in January 2025 to 11 a year later.

“The number of families in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks stands at zero. Nightly lets have been cut from 186 in January 2025 to 133 in July, and that’s where the focus needs to be now.

“LBC must publish this strategy by December 2, otherwise the local authority could be penalised by central government for not meeting the deadline.”

Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor Amjid Ali, who chairs the executive, acknowledged “the picture was very bleak a few years ago”, adding: “To turn that around in a short period of time and have a strategy and processes in place is really good, with the previously unsustainable number of people looking for a permanent home.

“We’ve still a long way to go, but there’s a considerable amount of success from where we were.Every household that’s homeless or in temporary accommodation has other requirements, putting a strain on our financial position.”

The committee agreed to note the report, with a reduction to a £400,000 underspend for quarter two of this financial year against the budget, rather than a previous £4m overspend.