Stafford Borough Council plans to buy three homes for £675,000, about half from a government grant, as around 20 households a month end up in bed and breakfast.
Stafford Borough Council wants to buy three homes to house homeless households, at a total cost of £675,000. The plan goes to the council’s Cabinet on Thursday 17 September.
The reason is bed and breakfast. Since January 2026, an average of about 20 households have been in B&B at the end of each month, according to the report. The council calls that costly and “not a sustainable option”.
The report, from the council’s Head of Wellbeing, is item 4(b)(i) in the Cabinet agenda for 17 September.
What the council is asking for
The money comes from two places:
- £351,300 from the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund, round 4, which the council has already been awarded
- £323,700 from the council’s own unallocated capital resources, which stood at £1.495 million in its February 2026 budget report
Cabinet is asked to give permission to spend the grant and the top-up. The report also asks for the full £675,000 to be added to the council’s capital programme for 2026/27.
Of the three homes:
- two would be used as temporary accommodation
- one would house a family under the Afghan Resettlement Programme
The council bid for the fund in December 2025, and the grant requires at least one home for that programme. The report says that if the resettled family later moves on, the property becomes temporary accommodation for the council’s homelessness duties.
How each home is paid for
The grant is worked out per property. It pays £96,100 towards each purchase, based on 40% of the median property price in the borough, plus £21,000 for costs such as refurbishment and conveyancing.
That is not enough to buy a house here. The council’s market research puts the average cost of a two or three bedroom home in the borough, with renovation, at £225,000. So it is asking for £107,900 more per property. Any money left unspent goes back to the general fund. Our Stafford house prices page has the wider market picture.
Why B&B has become the problem
The council has a legal duty to provide temporary accommodation to eligible homeless households. The report says the number of homeless duties it accepts is “relatively stable”. What has changed is the kind of help people need.
- 70% of households coming to the service have at least one support need.
- Households are staying in placements for longer.
- Most demand is from single people, but families are finding it harder to find long-term housing.
The council leases 15 temporary homes from Homes Plus: twelve with two bedrooms and three with one. These go to families with children first, and the average stay is 10 to 16 weeks. When they are full, the council uses B&B.
That is getting harder too. The report says commercial hotel chains often cap how many council placements they will take at once. Councils may only keep a family in B&B for six weeks.
National oversight is also tightening. Under the new Local Authority Outcome Framework, a council’s chief executive is told about every family kept in B&B for more than six weeks. Councils with more than five households past that point must draw up a Bed and Breakfast Elimination Plan.
What the council already has in train
An independent review found that owning its own temporary accommodation was the most cost-efficient model. The council has started down that road:
- a two-bedroom house it has bought, due to be available in autumn 2026
- six single units being converted from office space, with work starting this summer and completion expected by March 2027
The three homes in this report would add to those. The report does not say where the new homes will be. It says properties near public transport are preferred, and that there is a specific need for larger family homes and for accessible ones.
A separate paper setting rents, service charges and how the homes will be managed will go to Cabinet once the properties have been identified.
What it means for you
If you are at risk of losing your home, contact the council’s Housing Options team as early as you can. The report is clear that the service’s aim is to prevent people needing temporary accommodation at all, and that people arriving “at crisis point” is part of the pressure. The council’s housing advice and homelessness page explains how to get help, and the team can be emailed at housingadvice@staffordbc.gov.uk.
For everyone else, the question is cost. The top-up would come from capital money the council has not yet allocated. The report’s case is that owning homes is cheaper than relying on B&B, which it describes as costly and increasingly hard to find.
The Cabinet meeting starts at 6.30pm in the Craddock Room at the Civic Centre, Riverside, and is recorded. The papers and recording are on the meeting page.
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