What is emergency housing costing the borough council, and what is it doing about it?
From the papers of Hastings Borough Council, built by fixed rules on
30 October 2026, 21.58. More on Housing and homelessness.
The short account
The housing strategy
On 1 December 2025 the borough council's Cabinet agreed to recommend the draft Housing Strategy 2025 to 2030 to Full Council, and agreed its Year 1 Action Plan. 2
Cabinet also agreed that the draft strategy meets the council's statutory duty to carry out a Homelessness Review and produce a Homelessness Strategy. 2
The papers say the 2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivation rated Hastings the 14th most deprived local authority in England, and the worst of any English local authority for barriers to housing and other services. 2
The strategy's five priorities include preventing homelessness and ending rough sleeping. 3
On 14 January 2026 Full Council received and agreed the committee reports on its agenda, which included the Housing Strategy. 3
Buying homes
On 2 March 2026 Cabinet agreed to accept grant funding from the Local Authority Housing Fund Round 4, expected to be between £3,514,000 and £7,208,000, to support buying up to 52 homes over four years. 4
In line with the grant's conditions, the homes will be used as temporary accommodation for homeless households, with a proportion, estimated at 19%, prioritised for resettled Afghan households. 4
The council had received £3,081,000 from the fund's third round in August 2024 to buy 21 homes, later increased to 29 homes with funding of £4,230,967. 4
The cost
Hastings Borough Council paid £15m in the twelve months to August 2026 in its homelessness, rough sleeping, temporary accommodation and housing acquisition service areas, counting the payments over £250 it publishes. 6
By financial year that was £14m in 2023/24, £15m in 2024/25 and £16m in 2025/26, with £6.0m so far in 2026/27. 6
A financial update to Cabinet on 7 September 2026 said that, despite continuing pressures on homelessness services, the budget is forecast to balance, supported by £205,602 from reserves. 5
Drafted from the timeline and the papers below by a language model, checked sentence by sentence against the items it cites (the numbered links), and approved by the editor on 14 October 2026. Steps added to the timeline since then aren’t in it. How the checking works.
The report recommends: “That Cabinet recommends the draft Housing Strategy 2025 to 2030 set out at Appendix 1 to go to Full Council for approval.” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED (unanimously): 1. That Cabinet recommends the draft Housing Strategy 2025 to 2030 set out at Appendix 1 to go to Full Council for approval. 2. That Cabinet agrees the Year 1 Action Plan set out at Appendix 2. 3. That Cabinet agree that the draft Housing Strategy meets Council’s statutory duty to undertake a Homelessness Review and produce a Homelessness Strategy 4.” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “That Cabinet recommends the draft Housing Strategy 2025 to 2030 set out at Appendix 1 to go to Full Council for approval.” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED that under rule 13.3 the reports and minutes of committees set out in the agenda, including those items on which a council decision was required, be received, and agreed.” minutes ↗
The report recommends: “To accept grant funding from the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) Round 4, which is expected to be between £3,514,000 and £7,208,000, to support the acquisition of up to 52 homes over four years (2026/27-2028/29).” (and more)
The minutes record: Agreed. “RESOLVED (unanimously): • To accept grant funding from the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) Round 4, which is expected to be between £3,514,000 and £7,208,000, to support the acquisition of up to 52 homes over four years (2026/27-2028/29) • To note and agree that, in line with LAHF grant conditions, the homes will be used as Temporary Accommodation for homeless households with a proportion (estimated to be 19%)…” minutes ↗
What the stages mean
Proposed: Put forward in a paper or a consultation. Nothing decided yet, as far as the record shows.
Decided: The minutes record a decision, or the paper states one was taken.
Funded: The minutes record agreement to money for it.
Started: Work began, or a rule came into force, on the date a paper states.
Delivered: Finished, as a paper states.
Noted: A meeting received it for information, or its minutes mention it. Nothing was decided.
Planned: A date a council paper gives for a step not yet reached.
Coming up: a meeting with papers published that hasn’t happened yet.
What happens next
If the council has reason to believe that someone who applies to it may be homeless, eligible for help and in priority need, it must make sure accommodation is available for them to live in (Housing Act 1996, section 188).
If you are homeless or about to be, the council's page says to call its Community Contact Centre on 01424 451100, or 01424 451999 for emergency accommodation out of hours.
The timeline is built by fixed rules from the councils' papers dated from 1 January 2025; no language model chooses what is in it. A meeting is one step: its papers on the story, what the main report recommended, and the resolution its minutes record for that item, matched the same way as on Coming up. A step is “Decided” only when the minutes record that the item was agreed or not agreed, or the minutes' checked summary says a decision was taken. The rules:
A report to Cabinet, Full Council whose title matches: local authority housing fund|\bLAHF\b. Every paper filed under the same agenda item joins it.
A report to Cabinet, Full Council whose title matches: homeless|temporary accommodation|rough sleep|housing acquisitions?|\bTA acquisitions?|housing company|\bHHC\b|housing strategy; not titled with: east sussex housing partnership. Every paper filed under the same agenda item joins it.
The rules live in config/stories.yaml. If we have got something wrong, it is corrected in place and logged on the about page.