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Nov 2022
Harrogate Borough Council is paying some of Harrogate's larger town centre hotels to provide accommodation to homeless people.
The Stray Ferret approached the council a month ago after a well-placed source revealed the names of some of the town's best-known hotels that are being paid to put up homeless people. We asked the council how many homeless people it was helping, why it was having to use town centre hotels and how much it was paying the hotels.
The council, which has duties to prevent and relieve homelessness, confirmed it used hotels "as a last resort" but declined to reveal costs.
A council spokesperson said:
The spokesperson added the council worked with partners "to find more secure accommodation” while it provided temporary relief.
Fern House, which cost £2.3 million to build, opened 18 months ago to help provide more accommodation for homeless people.
We once again asked the council to provide details of how much taxpayers' money it was paying the hotels. But despite subsequent requests, it has not revealed how much it spends on hotels.
The spokesman initially said he "didn't have the costs to hand" and it "wasn't a straightforward answer".
Three weeks ago he said he had asked a colleague in finance to collate the information and they would "pull it together as soon as they can".
But no further details have been provided.
The Stray Ferret has submitted a Freedom of information request.
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