Council says numbers at Carlton Park will reduce in weeks

RMBC told the Advertiser that extra staff have been hired to locate more suitable properties in the private rented sector to ease the social housing demand crisis which has led to the hotel being used in recent months.

A council spokesperson said: “Homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation continues to rise rapidly across England due to the economic impact of inflation, private landlords exiting the rented market and ever-decreasing availability of suitable homes.

“Rotherham is experiencing similar challenges and we are working hard to find people suitable accommodation, often in a time of crisis.

“To deal with rising demand over the last two to three years, the council has increased its temporary accommodation from 64 to 115 self-contained places.

“Funding has also been recently secured to add another 16 temporary accommodation places. A further 13 properties are ring-fenced for use by people suffering domestic violence.”

The spokesperson added: “Two new accommodation officers have been appointed by the council to work with private landlords and letting agents to find more properties in the private rental sector that are suitable for use as temporary accommodation.

“Sadly, despite all this, at the present time there is still a need to use hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation to home people in an emergency.

“We do not want to have anyone living in a hotel for any longer than is strictly necessary and have already set out our intention to move away from this as much as we possibly can.

“Accordingly we expect the number of people residing in the Carlton Park to reduce over the coming weeks.

“We are aware of the local concerns around the use of the Carlton Park Hotel for temporary accommodation and are working with residents, ward councillors and partner agencies to address these concerns.”