The government is giving the city council a £15 million cash injection to help it pay for its spiralling homeless housing bill.
Brighton and Hove City Council applied for the money after the number of households in temporary accommodation reached a five-year high of 2,170 in November and December.
The amount it needed to spend on temporary and emergency housing this financial year has soared to £20 million against an original budget of £8 million.
It announced today its application has been successful.
Deputy council leader Jacob Taylor said: “We’re pleased to have received notification of our successful request for EFS; this will help us create the headroom required for this council to make long-term improvements, to modernise our services and to address long-term financial pressures.
“This is also not a situation unique to Brighton and Hove.
“It is a financially sensible option which allows us to continue to invest in services at the same time as taking steps to reduce ongoing costs and tackle financial pressures and, importantly, build up our financial reserves and strengthen our long-term financial resilience.”
More than 30 councils have been given the emergency funding across the country, including Worthing and East Sussex.
Is this £15m from central government or permission from central government to borrow but not have it marked as a debt in this year’s budget?
Most likely fancy bookkeeping so we don’t join the Bankrupt Councils Club
EFS avoids BCC
Obvious innit.
They are not being ‘given’ the money, they are being given permission to borrow the money over a period of about 20 years at an interest rate of about 6%. This means that in addition to the borrowed £15 million the council will need to pay back, they will pay about £11 million in interest over the period of the loan
This headline should be changed as it is misleading to say the council has been given money when it is in fact borrowing to avoid bankrupcy.
Some more background is here: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2026-02/Public%20reports%20pack%2019022026%201400%20Place%20Overview%20Scrutiny.pdf. Buried in the detail of council papers it makes clear that shortfalls in government grants to local councils is behind this emergency move and desperate measure: “The Council will receive £27.416m less resources over the multi-year settlement period of 2026/27 to 2028/29 compared to the prevailing MTFS assumptions. £19.283m has already been assumed in the December report, and therefore the position has deteriorated by a further £8.133m between 2026/27 and 2028/29.”
It’s scandalous that the government is not funding councils properly, and scandalous that lap dog councillors aren’t saying publicly how scandalous it all is the government are forcing debt on to residents alongside forcing councils to make abhorrent cuts to community services.
All the more reason to insist on full transparency concerning Council Leader Bella Sankey’s £19million contract rushed through on 2nd Jan 2026 to a fledgling emergency accommodation outfit only 2 and a half years old with no proven track record. This is no time to play fast and loose with precious council resources.