North Northamptonshire Council receives grant funding to buy properties for homeless and Afghan refugee family
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has been awarded just over half a million pounds from central government to purchase homes for vulnerable groups.
The council’s executive unanimously approved plans to spend £878k, part funded through the third round of the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF 3), to deliver much-needed council-owned temporary accommodation.
The funds will facilitate the purchase and renovation of four properties in North Northants, with three to be used as temporary accommodation for homeless households and one for the housing of an Afghan refugee family.
Cllr Martin Griffiths, leader of NNC, said: “This brings valuable assets into the council to be used for housing. We must be pragmatic about not refusing grant funding and understand that the benefits achieved for our residents are significant.”
The project will allow the council to increase its housing stock at approximately 40 per cent of the market value cost. This is because the bulk of the costs will be covered by the £528,063 LAH fund and topped up by £240,000 of NNC’s general fund capital and £110,000 from its Housing Revenue Account capital.
North Northants previously benefited from two prior rounds of LAHF funding, where it received £3.2m and £1.2m from central Government, respectively.
Using this alongside council capital match funding, it was able to purchase 41 properties to be used for homeless households and the Government’s Resettlement Programme to meet the grant criteria.
The report warned that if NNC does not use the grant funding, it would see ‘no relief’ on its homelessness services, resulting in the use of expensive nightly paid temporary accommodation, and at a time when demand for social housing is ‘at its highest’.
It is anticipated that offers for suitable properties will be made in October, with tenants allocated to the homes in March 2026 after renovation works are complete.