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Introducing TAN
How a new alliance assembled by Campbell Tickell and Devonshires aims to tackle the temporary accommodation crisis
STRATEGY
Samantha Grix
Partner, Devonshires
Maggie Rafalowicz
Director, Campbell Tickell
Issue 77 | April 2025
The financial costs of temporary accommodation (TA) pose an existential threat to local authorities across the country. Recent data paints a stark picture of this crisis, with TA expenditure reaching £2.42 billion in 2023-24. Even more troubling is the human cost – TA has been linked to the deaths of 74 children in England over the past five years.
For these reasons, Campbell Tickell and law firm Devonshires have brought together an alliance of organisations from across the housing sector to address the UK’s escalating TA crisis. The newly formed Temporary Accommodation Network (TAN) was set up following a successful and well-attended conference last November.
What is TAN?
TAN comprises local authorities, housing associations, charities, and private companies in a coordinated effort to tackle what has become an unprecedented challenge in the housing sector. Our aim is to identify solutions, share best practice, and influence policymakers to positively impact on the current provision of TA as we await longer-term improvements to the housing market.
In our recent Spending Review submission we made the case for the Government to reconsider the proposed freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates from this April, and for more flexible funding to provide TA and bring empty homes back into use through the next round of the Affordable Homes Programme. These measures would lead to cost savings compared to vastly more expensive and worse-quality solutions, particularly the extensive use of hotels and B&Bs.
“A significant issue we hear from members is the difficulty they have in speaking to the ‘right person’ in a local authority.”
Common issues
TAN is working with members on identifying models of delivery which can be used across the sector to pace up the supply of TA and address this crisis that spans across the country. In doing this we hear about common issues and learnings from our members which is hugely beneficial to those who attend events.
We want to work on saving organisations providing or delivering TA time and money, and simply bringing people with the same issue together creates ideas and solutions. A significant issue we hear from members is the difficulty they have in speaking to the ‘right person’ in a local authority (LA). This person differs between LAs so coordinating contacts and making introductions is a major benefit of TAN.
We are working to engage with as many LAs as possible to address this issue, given that they are central to working on solutions to this crisis. We have so many other parties who want to work with LAs to find solutions and one of the heartening things we have taken from our work so far is the energy and enthusiasm from stakeholders.
Call for case studies
We are gathering case studies from across our members to publicise and share more widely. This includes examples from different types of organisations, whether it be private companies channelling social equity investment into more sustainable TA supply, local charities working to develop unused plots of land into housing, or local authorities and housing associations partnering to provide bespoke support to enable families to move from TA into settled accommodation.
To hear more about TAN, please contact us. We are particularly keen to hear from local authorities about their experiences in managing TA and any innovative solutions which may work at scale.
“We are particularly keen to hear from local authorities about their experiences in managing TA.”
Launch
We are officially launching TAN in May 2025 and have support from Rushanara Ali, Minster for Homelessness and Democracy, who will be providing words of support for the event which we hope to post online afterwards. We also have support from London Councils, the Chartered Institute of Housing, National Housing Federation, Northern Housing Consortium, and Future of London among others. This is a growing movement and one which we at Campbell Tickell and Devonshires are passionate about supporting.
For more information or to discuss this article in detail, please email Samantha Grix or Maggie Rafalowicz
