£2.5m hotel bill for homeless

Councils are spending millions of pounds housing homeless people in hotel rooms costing up to £475 a night because of a benefits loophole.

Westminster council spent more than £2.5 million on hotel bills in nine months of 2012. Experts say families are avoiding a cap on housing benefit by declaring themselves homeless instead of moving to cheaper areas, forcing the council to house them.

In the first two months of this year, the bill for one family alone came to more than £27,000 for two rooms. During the period, Westminster spent £248,000 on rooms at the four-star Jurys Inn Hotel in Chelsea.

The council said it was trying to rehouse 80 people a month despite a shortage of suitable accommodation.

Jonathan Glanz, Westminster’s cabinet member for housing, said: “We are as concerned as the public about the cost of this accommodation and are doing everything we can to secure more properties.”