Maidstone Borough Council’s housing chief has backed calls for the government to pause its roll-out of benefit reform.

John Littlemore said radical changes, such as a rethink on Universal Credit and rental controls were needed to help combat rocketing homelessness in the borough and the rest of the country.

He was addressing more than 50 representatives from charities, local authorities and public services at a conference hosted by Maidstone Homeless Care at Tudor Park Marriott Hotel in Ashford Road, on Tuesday.

Also present were Matthew Scott, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner, Mossie Lyons, director of the Kairos Community Trust and Rick Henderson, CEO of Homeless Link, who talked in depth about growing scale of the problem.

The event coincided with World Homelessness Day and the World Health Organisation’s World Mental Health Day.

In Maidstone alone, the local authority expects to receive at least 800 homelessness applications this year. In 2009/10 they received 80.

At the same time, the conference heard a five-year cap on the housing benefits has seen the private rental sector become all but inaccessible to most claimants alongside a chronic undersupply of housing.

There is also mounting concern about the impact of Universal Credit, which rolls six benefits into one and will be introduced in Maidstone in April 2018. According to some critics, it could push claimants into destitution, or even homelessness.

Mr Littlemore said: “There is this growing demand for the government to hold back on Universal Credit and when people like Louise Kacey [a former government social welfare advisor] starts saying to the government ‘stop and think’ because of the issues it is having in terms of the impact on the social renting sector it really is something we need the government to pause and think about.”

Rick Henderson, echoed the sentiment, he said: “The impact of the welfare reform agenda has been to disproportionately affect those at the poorest end of the spectrum.”

“The impact of the welfare reform agenda has been to disproportionately affect those at the poorest end of the spectrum.” - Rick Henderson, CEO of Homeless Link

He said rising homelessness, now a ‘national phenomenon’ has led to more women, young people and foreign nationals seeking help, many with complex needs including, but not limited to; mental health, substance abuse and literacy.

Maidstone Borough Council sold off most of its council housing by 2004.

It is now among the first local authorities in the country to move back to becoming a housing provider, with two new developments at Brunswick and Union Street car parks.

As well as providing more than 100 affordable homes and private accommodation in the town centre, the project is part of a raft of measures the council is undertaking to improve the housing situation and reduce homelessness.

These include the creation of a prevention team, who work with people before they become homeless.

This year they intervened in 133 cases.

Last year the council also introduced changes to the way it deals with people in temporary accommodation, bringing the end to the use of bed and breakfasts, albeit at a greater cost.

There is hope too in the form of proposed Homelessness Reduction Act, which imposes new duties on councils and changes the way homelessness is handled.

Matthew Scott, Kent Police & Crime Commissioner took the opportunity to announce a raft of new funding for Kent homelessness charities.

Pots of up to £20,000 are available to projects in Kent which battle social injustice and help victims of crime.

He said: “I believe it’s fundamentally about making sure people get support from the right person at the right time because what we are seeing too often is people coming to the police’s attention when often that is not the right response.

"Around one third of all Kent Police time now is spent dealing with cases involving mental health.

"That is not the right thing for the victims and that’s not the right thing for officers, so my priority is to make sure they get better help elsewhere but also to reduce the demand on policing.

"If we were to reduce that demand even to 28% we would be able to free up 120 police officers time or £6 million pounds worth of policing every year.”