HOMELESS FIGURES (From Warrington Guardian)

HOMELESS FIGURES

BECOMING homeless in Halton can mean five months in temporary accommodation before being resettled permanantly - double the national average - figures released this week show.

Audit Commission statistics for 1997/98 showed that homeless people in the borough would be in temporary shelter for 20 weeks - although the collators express doubts about the accuracy of the council's information.

This was an increase of seven weeks per person on the previous year. The national average was 10 weeks.

Balanced against this was the fact that Halton was the best council in Cheshire for letting its own property to homeless people - with 22 per cent of dwellings going to the homeless.

The time it takes to recognise a person as officially homeless is 28 days - just above the national average of 26.

A council spokesperson said of the 20 week period: "Once it has been accepted that a family is homeless, we provide them with temporary accommodation while a suitable home is found.

"We take into consideration where the family has come from and try to rehouse them in the broad area of their choice.

"This can take slightly longer than placing them in the next available house but we feel it is important to consider the family's needs."

Note - all national average figure cited are those for District Councils (councils part of a county set up), as Halton was prior to April 1998.

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