A Kent council is determined to build itself out of a housing crisis, after it emerged it was spending nearly £1 million a year on emergency accommodation.

Maidstone currently has 300 people living in temporary housing, with a further 1,000 on the standard housing wait list.

Council leader David Burton revealed the figures at this month’s full council meeting and added: “The number needing emergency accommodation is escalating like you wouldn’t believe.”

That was why, he said, it was so important that the council pressed ahead with its ambition to directly provide 1,000 new affordable homes for Maidstone residents.

Cllr Burton said: “I’m pleased that his year we have already got quite a few properties (purchased for affordable housing) under our belt.

“Following the May elections, we will have to deliver on that pledge that we all collectively made.”

But he warned: “We will need to be doggedly determined.

“It’s becoming increasingly obvious how difficult that is going to be.”

“Construction costs are rising. The price of money has risen and continues to rise.”

He said: “Finding affordable housing is perhaps the single biggest challenge to our residents – but also to the finances of this council.

“If we don’t procure this affordable housing, the burden of providing emergency temporary accommodation – that direct cost to our revenue budget – will continue to grow and will become enormous and unbearable.”

In the financial year just ended, the council spent £966,876 housing people in emergency accommodation.

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) reminded his colleagues that “affordable” had to mean not just cheap to buy or rent, but affordable to live in. He said: “Affordable housing is not just affordable at the point of delivery, it must also be for the life of the building.”

And he warned: “The council providing its own 1000 affordable homes is a very important part of the jigsaw puzzle, but it is not the only part.

“I’m sure I am not the only councillor who has some utterly appalling accommodation in their ward, some owned by private landlords, and some even by other local authorties and their agents, who should really be ashamed.

“I would like the council to do more to deal with these rogue landlords, whether they are in the private or public sector.

“We need to be robust to ensure that landlords do not wriggle through little loophoes in legislation and do not treat their tenants in a way that they never would allow themselves to be treated.”

Cllr English said there was an inequality in health among Maidstone’s residents and that housing was a major cause.

He said: “If people have inadequate housing, they are going to have inadequate health.”

The London boroughs of Newham and Waltham Forest are among those known to have bought or leased properties in Maidstone in order to house residents on their own housing lists.

Cllr Maureen Cleator (Lab) agreed with Cllr English.

She said: “The houses need to be truly affordable – people need to be able to pay their gas and electricity.

“And we need to use our powers of enforcement. We need landlords to deliver what they are supposed to be delivering and not be issuing no-fault eviction notices as soon as someone makes a request for a repair.”

“I cannot wait to see again people being able to live in decent affordable housing and when I say affordable, I mean affordable for the average person...”

She said: “I cannot wait to see again people being able to live in decent affordable housing and when I say affordable, I mean affordable for the average person.

“There’s an advert on Facebook at the moment for David Wilson Homes – if you have got half a million pounds you can have one of their ‘affordable’ homes – and its open to key workers.

“I don’t now which key workers they know, but that certainly is not accessible for normal people.”

Cllr Burton assured the chamber that his administration did take very seriously the condition of rented properties in the borough.

He said: “It is a statutory duty as well as a moral responsibility, as well as our duty to our residents.”