Housing crisis in Ipswich

IPSWICH is in the middle of a housing crisis, with homeless families being sent to bed and breakfast accommodation for the first time in a decade.

The council's homeless family unit at West Villa is full, as are another nine temporary buildings in Catchpole's Way, off Morland Road.

Over the last few years the number of temporary buildings used by homeless families in Catchpole's Way has fallen – at one stage the council had 36 units there.

The borough has had to use bed and breakfast accommodation over the last few months as the number of people without roofs over their heads has increased.

"This has been a problem during the current financial year," said housing chief, Bill Hewlett.

"We hadn't had to put people up in bed and breakfast accommodation for about nine years until now."

The council was one of the first in the area to use temporary buildings for homeless families as an alternative to bed and breakfast accommodation in the late 1980s.

West Villa, which was a Victorian workhouse, has been used by the council to provide accommodation for homeless families since the mid-1970s.

It was refurbished six years ago – and it is now full.