Homeless households are "stuck in temporary accommodation" due to a shortage of permanent housing, Bath and North East Somerset Council has been warned.

The number of homeless households living in temporary accommodation in Bath and North East Somerset has increased from 30 to 50 since before the pandemic.

The council's head of housing, Graham Sabourn, told councillors: "We have a duty not to place families in bed and breakfasts for more than six weeks at a time. We have not done that for ten years. We are about to do it this week."

The amount of households in temporary accommodation is a figure which varies week-by-week but which usually remained at about 30 until 2019/20. This rose to 60 during the pandemic as rough sleepers were accommodated during lockdown.

Although the number has reduced since, it has remained regularly above 50. As of Friday October 21, the council was housing 53 households in temporary accommodation.

Mr Sabourn said this was partly due to more complex cases taking longer to solve, but he also warned: "The supply of accommodation is drying up."

He added that finding private rented homes for homeless households in Bath was a "non-starter" and the only such homes available were in Midsomer Norton or Keynsham. There is also a shortage of social housing, particularly three-bed houses which are in particular demand.

He said: "Some of those people in temporary accommodation are effectively stuck in temporary accommodation pending the availability of permanent accommodation of three and four-bed houses."

In addition to being one of the most sought-after property types, housing association CURO is currently regenerating some houses of this size meaning more units are unavailable than normal. There has also been a reduction in social tenants handing their keys back since Covid, as people are preferring to stay where they are.

Mr Sabourn said: "There is no shortage of under-occupied social housing properties out there. The issue for us is how do we encourage those occupiers to leave a property and take up something that is more suitable for their current needs.

"It's one of those issues which is very easy to say, as a professional, 'well you should move from your three-bed to a one-bed' but the individuals probably have fond memories of living in the three-bed. It's probably their family home, they probably brought the kids up there, it has a nice garden, and they know the community.

"Trying to encourage those people to move to a flat or an apartment somewhere different is a challenge, but its not a challenge we should shirk away from."

Another factor contributing to the increased number in temporary accommodation is that homelessness cases are becoming more complex and requiring more of caseworkers' time, as people approach housing services later and mental health issues become a more common problem.

One step the council is taking to increase the supply of accommodation is building their own council housing. Seven general needs council flats are almost ready for tenants and the council has plans for a further 190.

Despite the recent increase, the rate of households in temporary accommodation in Bath and North East Somerset is significantly below the national average. However, Mr Sabourn said: "Ten years ago we probably had about 12, 13, or 14 people in temporary accommodation so you can see the journey we have undertaken in the last ten years. And it is not a journey in the right direction."