A scheme to house homeless people in Sheerness has been slammed as “pedestrian and inadequate” by Labour councillors.

Last Wednesday, Swale cabinet members agreed to purchase a property at a cost of £200,000 to provide for those with nowhere to live.

According to the local authority’s calculations, this would save it £80,000 a year on bed and breakfast costs when combined with two other council-owned properties in Sittingbourne and Teynham.

But Labour leader Cllr Roger Truelove criticised the plan as too little and too late, arguing the three houses will be insufficient for the number of homeless in the borough.

He said: “You’ve got 73 families - people that have got nowhere to go - and you buy one property, the very most you are going to get in that is three families.

“It is very cosmetic, it has taken them so long and the rest of the families will have to go to Medway or Ashford.

“Three years ago there wasn’t 73 families, there was more like 25.”

He said if Labour was in control of Swale House, it would tackle the housing problem by building more homes and employing the staff to manage them using the £13 million in council reserves.

He added: “Property purchased would maintain or grow its value. But we also need more social housing - we are in a crisis, especially for young people.”

Chalkwell ward member Cllr Ghlin Whelan (Lab) also spoke at the evening meeting to argue the Conservative-led council is not doing enough to solve the problem.

He said: “By providing properties, the council is saving on costs for this budget and that is why opposition politicians find the pedestrian progress so frustrating.

“The council say they are saving money on the purchase of these isolated properties, so what exactly is holding them back?”

However, Swale’s cabinet member for housing, Cllr John Wright, has defended the authority’s decision to only buy one home, saying its ”primary object” was on preventing homelessness to begin with.

He added: “The vast majority of people that go into temporary accommodation are there for less than a week.”

The Conservative member for Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch also said three years ago and prior to a number of welfare reforms, there was not the demand to warrant the council purchasing properties and paying for their upkeep.