378 Dartford households were in council-arranged overnight accommodation in September, up from 326. The council expects its £6.6m budget to be significantly overspent.
Dartford Borough Council expects to overspend its budget for housing homeless families this year, despite adding almost £600,000 to it in its February budget.
At the end of September, 378 households were in what the council calls “overnight accommodation”. A year earlier the figure was 326. That is a rise of 52 households, or 16 per cent.
The figures are in the council’s half-year budget report, which went to its Cabinet on 29 October (Revenue Budget Monitoring 2026/27, Appendix C).
What the report says
The council raised the temporary accommodation budget by £596,300 for 2026/27. The report says “initial monitoring shows the new budget may be under pressure”. It goes on:
If current levels of temporary accommodation continue for the remainder of 2026/27, with no increases in nightly rates, it is expected that the budget will be significantly overspent.
There is some steadier news in the same paragraph. Demand is at “an all-time high level”, but it has stayed at the same figure for six months, without the month-on-month spikes seen a year ago. Nightly costs have not risen in that time, and the report sees no sign that they will before April.
The report does not put a figure on the overspend. Its summary table still shows temporary housing at its current budget of £6.63 million for the year (Appendix A, General Fund summary). A fuller projection is due to Cabinet in December.
A second gap: housing benefit
A separate line in the report adds to the cost. The government pays the council housing benefit subsidy for homeless households, but the report says it “does not fully cover today’s accommodation costs”. The council pays the difference.
That shortfall is currently expected to be £460,000 this year, “higher than seen in previous years”.
At the Cabinet meeting, the chief executive called the subsidy inadequate. The minutes record her saying it did not cover the cost of providing temporary accommodation (Cabinet minutes, 29 October 2026).
What councillors said
The portfolio holder for finance asked whether the council was placing people in more expensive accommodation than it needed to. Officers replied that the council has a legal duty to house people who are homeless, and that demand is greater than the supply of rooms.
The minutes record officers saying that, with more landlords leaving the market, those who remain “were able to demand higher rates”. Some households are placed in more expensive properties because their circumstances require it.
The council’s answer: buying its own homes
The council is trying to cut the use of private rooms by owning more of its own stock. The report lists:
- units at Copperfield in Dartford town centre
- 138 homes at Knights Reach, in the east of the borough
- homes bought one at a time on the open market
Knights Reach is arriving in phases. Nine homes were handed over at the end of June, and none between July and September. The schedule has 54 due in October and the remaining 75 by the end of December.
The report says the homes “once allocated will reduce the overall temporary accommodation spend”. It does not say by how much.
Our September story on the council’s 518 households in temporary accommodation covers the wider count, which includes the private leasing scheme as well. The two reports measure different things, so their figures do not match.
Prevention work
The council also spends money keeping people from becoming homeless at all. Between July and September it had 324 prevention approaches, against 361 in the same three months last year.
Spending on prevention reached £415,000 by the end of September, against a full-year budget of £613,500. The report says rent deposits and incentive payments are now needed “for every placement”. It expects this budget to balance, because a new government grant for rough sleeping frees up other money.
Other points from the half-year report
The same report flags several smaller costs and savings:
- Orchard West: the temporary theatre cost £453,730 to the end of September, against a £360,000 budget. Air conditioning, about £100,000, was left out of the estimate. Taking it down will cost a further £105,730, from reserves
- Food waste: the new weekly collection starts in November, later than budgeted, so waste services expect to save about £310,000 overall
- Litter fines: the contractor’s share of paid fines rose from 70 to 85 per cent in April, costing the council just over £20,000. The contract ends on 24 January 2027
- School safety cameras: the technology behind them was “out of action” for the first half of the year, which cut fine income. The report says it is now working
- The Innovation Centre is running at a loss, with about 60 per cent of its space let. A report on its future goes to Cabinet in December
Overall, officers still expect the council to deliver its services within the total budget.
What it means for you
If you are at risk of losing your home, contact the council’s housing options team early. Prevention help, such as a rent deposit, is easier to arrange before you have to leave.The next full budget picture comes to Cabinet in December.
If you are already in temporary accommodation, the Knights Reach homes are meant to replace some nightly-paid rooms. The report gives no date for when households will move in.
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