As we continue to shine a spotlight on Kent’s housing crisis this week, today we reveal how the bill for temporary accommodation in the county has doubled in five years.

But, as Max Chesson reports, people are still being placed in hellish homes blighted by drug-using neighbours, rats and damp – with one leading councillor admitting “some of what happens is criminal...”

Emily Gibbs is one of many people in Kent to have spent time in temporary accommodation (TA) in the last five years, racking up 18 months across three different boroughs.

Now settled in a new flat after a plea for help earlier this year, the 29-year-old told KentOnline about her experiences – saying she felt like she “was left to rot”.

She described the nightmare housing she was provided with her daughter, who was just a year old at the time.

“The first placement was in an apartment block in Ashford full of heroin users,” began Ms Gibbs.

“People were fighting over drugs in the hallway. I remember someone swinging a bag of shopping at someone else which split and nearly hit us in the head.

“I was being put into places that were a health and safety risk. Pipes for old-style heaters were left bare, the stairs weren’t fit for purpose – it was all so unsafe.”

Ms Gibbs was considered homeless for 32 months in total.

During her stays in Ashford, Swale and Folkestone, she says she was put in eight different houses and flats – with the constant uncertainty having a detrimental effect on her daughter’s development.

It is believed Ms Gibbs was a victim of cuckooing – a term used when the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by a criminal in order to use it for activities like drug dealing or storing contraband.

The mum-of-two, who has ADHD and suffers from anxiety, says she should not have been placed in such volatile conditions.

“I had no family, friends or contacts near where I was and my mental health suffered because of that,” she said.

“Being taken away from my support network turned me into a ghost. I wouldn’t leave the house and it’s taken years for me to adjust to now being in a safe environment.

“I was in a vulnerable state. I fell in with the wrong crowd and was a young mum and there was just no help available.

“More housing needs to be available for emergency accommodation. There needs to be a lot of work done to make houses safer too.”

When asked if she felt the money invested by councils is being spent wisely, she simply said “no”.

Responses to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests from KentOnline reveal every council in the county has seen a rise in its spending on temporary accommodation, with large sums going to private landlords.

Medway tops the list with more than £5 million forked out in the 22/23 tax year. By comparison, Folkestone and Hythe District Council spent £315,289 on 221 placements during the same period.

Across the five years, Kent councils saw almost 17,000 TA placements accepted by families or individuals. This excludes Maidstone and Medway, which were unable to provide the relevant figures.

Swale Borough Council’s (SBC) spending on TA has quadrupled in the past five years – and the chair of the authority’s housing and health committee, Angela Harrison, admits more needs to be done.

In a devastatingly honest reflection of the situation, the Labour representative said: “At the moment, private landlords have got the upper hand because there are more properties needed than are available.

“A private landlord can charge what they want and if we’ve got a duty to house you, we have to do that. We can’t refuse to engage with landlords.

“Across Swale and every borough, there are good landlords and bad landlords. Some will keep it up to scratch and others have treated it as a cash cow and people end up in squalor.

“We do try to negotiate prices and we’re looking for a number of different ways to try to get the cost of all of this down, including purchasing 50 properties to use as temporary accommodation.”

The latter project, costing SBC £11 million, came as charity Shelter revealed one in every 166 people in Swale is without a fixed abode - the second highest rate in Kent, behind Dartford.

Separate data from SBC shows an 84% rise in the number of households in TA in Swale between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

One of the key issues with TA is the quality and safety of the establishments people are housed in, with mothers and newborns being placed in homes with mould out of necessity.

Jade Connor, from Herne Bay, told KentOnline in October last year she would rather sleep in a car than risk spending a night in a mouldy placement in Ashford - a move that left her homeless.

Meanwhile, the Florence Court Hotel in Margate faced investigations by Thanet District Council last year after a series of complaints about the quality of the TA it provided.

Leah Dawes told of her terror when she and her two infant daughters were placed in a room she says was grubby, with mice scurrying about at all hours.

Alexi Price was another who was subjected to what she calls “vile conditions” at the hotel.

Following her turbulent time under the care of Thanet District Council’s housing team, the 19-year-old has now left the county to start afresh.

“With the council and the temporary accommodation being limited in Kent, and the quality of those properties, I don’t think it can help as many people as it could,” she said.

“When I did get put into TA, I couldn’t find stability and, from my experience, I wasn’t being put into a safe environment.

“There are not enough properties around. Some people are being moved miles away and that can be even more harmful.

“With the number of homes that are being built in Kent, I think there should really be an emphasis on preserving some of those for people who need emergency and temporary accommodation.”

Cllr Harrison shares the frustrations held by many, but warns the council’s overriding duty to house people means some will continue to end up in lower-quality TA.

“Because it’s temporary accommodation it does not have to be up to the same standard as permanent housing,” she said.

“We have to be flexible on the standard. We don’t like to – but the bottom line is people need a roof over their heads.

“People don’t contact their landlord or council out of fear of being evicted or removed – some of what happens is criminal.

“As well as the issues of the standards of the properties, there are issues of putting people in overcrowded situations due to the need for flexibility surrounding temporary accommodation. People can’t sleep on park benches waiting for the perfect property to show up.

“If somebody could say as of right now we don’t have to accept any more temporary accommodation requests we’d be away and able to bring down the current cost – but it doesn’t work like that.”

A lack of suitable housing is an issue across the county, with one couple forced to live out of their car in Medway last year for more than a month before their local authority could find room for them in a bed & breakfast.

But Friday Quick and her partner Richard Warrior say this location, where they remain 10 months later, is blighted by rats and damp.

The hope of the council finding a more permanent solution for the pair is beginning to fade, with Ms Quick telling KentOnline she is “starting to feel like it’ll never happen”.

The mum-of-two said: “We’re still in the same place. It’s better than being in a car, but we’ve had to constantly moan about things.

“There’s damp, there’s rats, people leave bottles of urine all over the place, we’ve had our new car damaged and the old one stolen – it’s costing us a fortune we don’t have.

“They told us they’d sort us a flat and that they’re on the case but whether or not anything does happen remains to be seen.”

When asked about Medway’s £5 million spend on temporary accommodation between April 2022 and March 2023, the 51-year-old branded the news “disgusting”.

She added: “There are so many council properties that are empty and it just needs them to take charge and do something.

“The amount of money being spent is way too much for what we’ve actually got – it’s terrible.

“I do understand the situation and what the council are saying but something has to change.”

A Medway Council spokesperson said: “We are committed to helping the most vulnerable people in Medway and we commission a range of accommodation for people who have nowhere to live to ensure they have somewhere to temporarily stay.

“We provide advice and support to those living in temporary accommodation to help them find permanent homes as quickly as possible.

“Unfortunately, if households need larger or specific properties to meet their needs, they may be in temporary accommodation for longer, as we have fewer of these properties available.

“We do everything we can to help residents who are at risk of homelessness including providing financial advice and mediation at Kingsley House in Gillingham.”

More than half of Kent’s councils have seen TA costs more than double between 2018 and 2023 – while only two saw less than a 50% increase

Gravesham Borough Council has funded the largest rise in percentage terms across the five years, with an increase of 348.6%.

A spokesperson told KentOnline: “The goal is to ensure customers approach us as soon as possible so we have an opportunity to work with them to prevent and relieve homelessness.

“However, this continues to be difficult with an unaffordable private sector.

“With the pressures to find housing for households who are homeless and in need, Gravesham is doing all we can to increase social and affordable housing supply.

“Since 2019 we have completed 144 new council houses and are committed to delivering more than 1,000 in the next five years.”

A Thanet District Council spokesman said it is committed to increasing the amount of temporary accommodation it provides. They pointed out that the council opened the refurbished Foy House in Margate in January 2023, which includes eight self-contained flats. Tenants are supported throughout their stay by a dedicated manager.

They added: “We have successfully prevented 330 households from becoming homeless in 2023. Where emergency accommodation is needed, we aim to rehouse people in Thanet when there is suitable accommodation available. In some cases placement out of the district is unavoidable.

“We are aware of the recent issues at the Florence Court Hotel. We have started to identify alternative accommodation for the people who have been placed in temporary accommodation there. We investigate all complaints received about the quality of temporary accommodation, including visiting the accommodation when necessary to ensure that it is suitable.

“Households that find themselves at risk of homelessness should always contact our housing options team as soon as possible so we can try and prevent them from having to leave their current home. In the event that temporary accommodation is needed we endeavour to place people in a property that best meets their needs.

“We are unable to comment on specific cases for reasons of confidentiality.”