Bromley Council has agreed to spend £29 million on a new housing project for individuals relying on temporary accommodation.
The new scheme in Orpington comes as the number of households presenting as homeless in the borough nears 2,000.
The building, called Bellegrove, is a former residential care home in St Paul’s Cray. The structure was previously used as a temporary accommodation site with 52 rooms but was closed earlier this year after struggling since Covid due to residents being unable to use the shared facilities.
Council documents said the building has since been boarded up after being broken into and vandalised, with officers describing it as an ‘eyesore’ for the local community. They added that the authority was considering knocking down the building if planning permission for the scheme was approved.
The report said that there were 1,930 households in temporary accommodation in the borough at the end of September. It added that 1,562 of these households were in hotels or other similar placements.
Officers said that the cost of temporary accommodation per family per year had nearly doubled in the past two years, rising to £12,300. It is expected that the new project will deliver savings of £161,000 a year to the council.
Councillors unanimously agreed to approve the funding at a Bromley Council meeting on December 9. The scheme would make use of grant funding from the Greater London Authority to deliver 217 new homes in the borough. The remaining £15.4m required for the project would come from external borrowing.
Conservative Councillor Christopher Marlow, Portfolio Holder for Resources, Commissioning and Contract Management, said at the meeting: “The £29m on the Bellegrove housing development shows the scale of the council’s ambitions in terms of delivering more housing for our residents, not only to provide a better experience for them but also to save the council taxpayer money.”
The project would have 68 homes with a focus on family-sized units and also include a play space for public use. A planning application for the site is expected to be submitted next month to be determined by May 2025. The works as a whole are envisioned to be completed in December 2027.
Council officers said in their report: “Officers have worked to ensure that the development enhances the public realm with a high-quality design that responds to the local built environment and takes influence from the vernacular architecture and the red/brown brick facades which are common in the local community.”