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24
Mar 2021
Harrogate council spends £350,000 on B&Bs for homeless people
Harrogate Borough Council spent more than £350,000 on bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless people from the start of the first lockdown until the end of last year.
The local authority worked with some businesses in the district to put people up. But it also sent some homeless people as far as Darlington, which is more than an hour's drive from Harrogate.
People were also sent to Leeds and York.
The Stray Ferret understands it was necessary to use accommodation elsewhere because some empty hotels in the district were reluctant to accept homeless people.
From March to December, the council spent £353,000 on B&Bs and more than £1,400 on taxis for homeless people, according to council documents.
Read more:
- Harrogate jumpers raise £10,000 for homeless people
- Harrogate homeless units still not used this winter
The national government covered the cost through a grant as part of its "Everyone In" scheme to get people off the streets during the pandemic.
A spokeswoman from Harrogate Borough Council said:
The Local Government Association published a report in November, which found that Everyone In saved saves by encouraging councils to take rapid action.
Liz Hancock, chair of the Harrogate Homeless Project, echoed those findings and told the Stray Ferret:
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