OUR SERVICES
Temporary & Emergency Accommodation
In short: temporary accommodation overspend can be reduced either by creating supply from the council's own estate - meanwhile use, conversion, modern methods of construction - or by acquiring property from the market that the authority then owns and controls. LGPC appraises both against whole-life cost and delivers the route the evidence supports.
ON THIS PAGE
The strategic question
What to consider
Indicative economics
Financial context
Fees
Two routes to supply
The acquisition service
THE STRATEGIC QUESTION
Procure the service, or control the asset?
Temporary accommodation has become one of the fastest-rising pressures on local government finances. Councils are spending record amounts on nightly-paid provision, often far from residents' communities and in buildings never designed for families. At the same time, demand is rising, statutory duties remain unavoidable, and suitable options in the private rented sector are increasingly limited.
A household placed in a hotel or bed-and-breakfast at £60 per night costs a council approximately £21,900 per year - with no asset created and no residual value retained by the authority.
But the question is not simply "can we afford to acquire?" It is:
What is the whole-life cost of continuing to procure the service externally compared with acquiring or repurposing an asset that the authority controls?
50%
of lower-tier councils identify housing and homelessness as their single greatest short-term spending pressure
£21,900
per household per year in bed-and-breakfast at £60 per night, with no asset created
£233m
boost to the Homelessness Prevention Grant - after which one authority still forecast a £3m gap
The goal is simple: reduce overspend, improve quality, and give councils greater control over their housing duty.
THE FINANCIAL CONTEXT
Where the pressure is coming from
The 2025 State of Local Government Finance in England survey found that housing and homelessness is the single greatest short-term spending pressure for 50% of all lower-tier councils.
One district council reported directing 40% of its entire budget to housing costs. Another described demand for temporary accommodation as "unprecedented and extremely costly." A chief financial officer noted that even after the Government's £233 million boost to the Homelessness Prevention Grant, their council's "expenditure gap in this area alone will rise to £3 million."
The alternative to recurring external expenditure is proactive supply creation - whether by bringing the council's own estate into use, or by acquiring accommodation the authority owns, controls and retains as a long-term asset.
Whether either produces a saving depends on local values, financing, operating costs and the expected duration of demand. On the illustrative assumptions set out below, the potential difference can be material.
The framework this is tested against
The HM Treasury Green Book and the Best Value framework provide an established basis for testing either route. Where appraisal demonstrates that a route provides better whole-life value than the realistic alternatives, it can represent a sound use of public capital.
Green Book
Options assessed against objectives, public-sector financial impact, risk and wider public value - not simply purchase price.
Best Value
Economy, efficiency and effectiveness across all council functions, including how service demand is met.
Specialist capacity
Market reach and transaction capability alongside existing Housing, Property and Finance resources.
Meanwhile use, conversion and modern methods of construction can create supply from land and buildings the council already holds.
TWO ROUTES TO SUPPLY
Use the estate you hold, or acquire what you need
Most authorities will use both. The appraisal decides the mix - we do not advocate acquisition as a default, and in many cases the estate already held is the faster and cheaper answer.
ROUTE ONE
The estate you already hold
LGPC helps councils use their own estate - and the opportunities around it - to reduce reliance on costly, unsuitable temporary accommodation while improving standards and long-term outcomes.
We identify sites suitable for meanwhile use, conversion, or modern methods of construction (MMC), and we map deliverable routes that align with procurement, funding and planning requirements. Our approach blends strategic estate review with housing insight to create realistic, affordable supply that can be delivered quickly.
What this work delivers
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A prioritised pipeline of TA and EA opportunities across the council's estate
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Appraisal of meanwhile use, building conversion and MMC options
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Delivery route comparison - direct delivery, partnerships, operators, leasing models
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Cash-flow, business case inputs and savings profiles
ROUTE TWO
Acquisition from the market
Where the estate cannot meet the requirement, or cannot meet it quickly enough, the alternative is to acquire property the council then owns and controls - replacing recurring nightly-paid expenditure with the financing and running costs of a retained asset.
This is a transactional service: defining the acquisition mandate, sourcing opportunities that are not visible through conventional property searches, appraising them against the council's requirements, negotiating the purchase and managing delivery through to occupied units.
Typical opportunities
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Stalled or unsold development schemes
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Commercial buildings suitable for conversion
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Unplaced Section 106 affordable housing packages
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Portfolio disposals by landlords exiting the private rented sector
THE ACQUISITION SERVICE
Three stages, each independently commissionable
Identifying opportunities, structuring transactions, and managing delivery through to completed, occupied units.
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Acquisition mandate
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Market sourcing
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Desktop appraisals
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Opportunity filtering
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Fortnightly reporting
01
Define, Find & Appraise
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Heads of terms
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Due diligence
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Governance support
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Negotiation
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Transaction management
02
Acquire
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Contractor procurement support
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Programme management
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Site inspections
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Quality assurance
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Handover to TA team
03
Deliver
Sourcing beyond the open market
Our sourcing draws on relationships with housebuilders, SME developers, registered providers, portfolio landlords, commercial agents and receivers built over 25 years. In the past few years we have advised on transactions exceeding 600 residential units.
Where our role stops
The council retains the investment decision, the funds and the contractual relationship with the vendor. LGPC does not act as principal contractor, does not employ trades and does not take construction risk. We act solely for the council and accept no fees or commission from counterparties.
Every opportunity is appraised against the council's requirements - location, unit mix, condition, EPC, planning status, conversion feasibility, estimated acquisition and works cost, and projected timeline to occupation. Only opportunities that pass this filter are presented to the council.
WHAT COUNCILS NEED TO CONSIDER
The questions that decide whether this is right for you
A strategic acquisition programme is a significant commitment of public capital. These are the tests we apply before recommending it.
Financial case and Green Book alignment
The business-as-usual baseline should be properly costed before alternatives are compared - accommodation, management overhead, officer time and the opportunity cost of capital spent on revenue rather than assets.
Governance and best value
Every acquisition must demonstrate value for money and comply with financial regulations, the scheme of delegation, fiduciary duties and the Prudential Code. We provide the audit trail and documented option comparison.
Planning and conversion risk
Class MA permitted development rights provide a route for certain commercial-to-residential conversions, but Article 4 Directions, conservation area restrictions and minimum space standards all apply.
EPC and energy performance
Our filtering targets EPC B or better. Where MEES requires a minimum rating, that is treated as a floor, not a target - avoiding a latent retrofit liability in the portfolio.
Condition and whole-life cost
RICS guidance requires councils to consider total cost of ownership: acquisition, conversion, maintenance, cyclical replacement and eventual disposal or repurposing.
Residual value and exit flexibility
Residual value should be assessed prudently rather than assuming capital appreciation. Equally important is whether the asset could later support general needs housing, another service, or transfer to a successor authority.
Local Government Reorganisation
Councils should avoid speculative acquisitions or transactions that could constrain a successor authority. Transition controls - including those under Section 24 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 - may restrict significant financial commitments during the transition period.
But equally, LGR should not become a reason to defer a demonstrably beneficial estate decision where delay would perpetuate avoidable revenue expenditure or leave the successor authority with a more expensive operating model. The question is not whether to acquire, but whether the evidence supports it.
INDICATIVE ECONOMICS
What the comparison can look like
An illustrative comparison between nightly-paid placements and council-owned accommodation, on a set of generic assumptions.
Illustrative only. Assumes £60 per night nightly-paid cost, £150,000 all-in cost per unit, PWLB borrowing at 5.00%, MRP at 2.50% and £4,000 annual management, maintenance and voids. Figures should be tested against each council's treasury management strategy, medium-term financial plan and local market conditions.
These illustrations are not a business case. Actual outcomes depend on acquisition cost, financing structure, MRP policy, lifecycle expenditure, management costs, voids, the authority's existing TA baseline, demand assumptions and residual value. A council-specific appraisal should test these through sensitivity and scenario analysis.
Illustrative example: 100 households
A council is placing 100 households in nightly-paid accommodation at approximately £2.2 million per year. Demand is assumed to be structural over the appraisal period.
£2.2m
Current position
Annual B&B spend across 100 households
Mandate
100 units within 15 miles, EPC B or better, maximum £150,000 all-in per unit
Pipeline
Five transaction types: apartments, houses, hotel, office conversion, s106 package
£1.5m
Indicative outcome
Annual cost during the borrowing period
On these illustrative assumptions, annual expenditure on those 100 households could reduce from £2.2 million to approximately £1.5 million during the borrowing period - while building a portfolio the council owns, controls and retains beyond the life of the debt.
FEE STRUCTURE
Transparent, in stages, proportionate
Councils pay for what they commission, when they commission it. There are no hidden charges, no dual agency arrangements and no fees from counterparties. Each stage can be commissioned independently, allowing an authority to test the approach proportionately before making any acquisition commitment.
Stage 1
Monthly retainer. Covers ongoing market engagement, opportunity identification, desktop appraisals, filtering and fortnightly reporting. Commissioned and reviewed month by month.
Stage 2
Percentage of acquisition value, on a reducing scale as value increases. Payable on legal completion of each acquisition, so no acquisition fee arises unless a purchase completes.
Stage 3
Percentage of works cost, with a lower rate for light refurbishment. Payable monthly in arrears against contractor valuations.
Fees are confirmed in a written proposal before any work begins, scoped to your asset base, governance process and procurement rules. Rates are provided on request.
WHY LGPC
Market reach, with council governance built in
LGPC combines property market experience with an understanding of local authority governance, estate strategy and housing delivery. This enables us to identify opportunities in the market while structuring recommendations around the evidence, approvals and audit trail a council requires.
Every engagement is worked on and completed at Director level, by the person responsible for winning the work.
25 years of residential and commercial property experience spanning Savills, Putterills, Prime Plots and LGPC.
600+ residential units transacted in the past few years across acquisitions and disposals, with direct relationships across housebuilders and Registered Providers active in the region.
The consultancy team behind LGPC were Winners of Consultancy of the Year at the Hertfordshire Residential Development Awards 2025 - recognised for innovation in estates strategy, public-sector disposals and long-term asset planning.