North Yorkshire Council is proposing to expand its temporary accommodation programme by almost 25%, aiming to give more vulnerable households — particularly single people and couples needing one-bedroom homes — access to council-owned housing rather than hotels or B&Bs.
The plan comes against a backdrop of mounting national pressure: more than 132,000 households were in temporary accommodation across England in June 2025, the highest number on record and up 7.6% year-on-year, with the number of affected children also continuing to climb. Locally, North Yorkshire’s own spending on emergency housing has risen more than 400% since 2019/20.
Under the proposals, due before the council’s executive on Tuesday 15 September, £18 million would be invested to deliver 112 temporary accommodation homes across the county — up from the 90 originally planned. The council has already delivered 20 such homes, with a further 40 currently being upgraded before coming into use, adding to the 191 units it already has access to.
Officials say the expanded programme could eventually save up to £2.7 million a year in emergency accommodation costs, building on spending that had already climbed from just over £500,000 in 2019/20 to more than £2.1 million by 2022/23.
A growing need
Cllr Simon Myers, the council’s executive member for housing, said: “Everyone deserves access to safe, secure and suitable accommodation when they are facing difficult circumstances. The demand for homelessness support and temporary accommodation has increased significantly in recent years, and we are seeing a growing need for smaller one-bedroom homes. Our work in this area has received national recognition from the Government – and we will not stop there. We have already made strong progress as part of a proactive approach to delivering new temporary accommodation across North Yorkshire.
“We remain committed to supporting vulnerable households while reducing our reliance on hotel and B&B accommodation, which comes at a significant cost to the taxpayer. By increasing our delivery programme, we can provide more people with appropriate accommodation as part of a long-term solution, while continuing our commitment to preventing homelessness and rough sleeping.”
The proposals build on the council’s first homelessness and rough sleeping strategy, adopted last year.
