This toolkit is an end-to-end guide to help local authorities use leasing models to deliver high-quality temporary homes on land awaiting long-term development.
A record 135,580 households, including 177,530 children, are living in temporary accommodation in England, often in hotel rooms and B&Bs never meant to be homes. Councils spent £2.93 billion on temporary accommodation in 2025/26, and with budgets and borrowing stretched to the limit, the costs are rising faster than they can respond.
This toolkit offers a practical way forward. Building on schemes already delivered in Bristol and Havering, it shows how local authorities can provide high-quality, relocatable homes on meanwhile-use land. It includes the legal, financial and delivery detail you need to progress a scheme from concept to delivery, while working within constrained borrowing capacity and avoiding long-term financial commitments.
Developed through the Building Better Community of Practice with a consortium of industry experts, it’s designed to complement permanent social rent homes, not replace them, improving lives now at a cost the public purse can sustain.
Download the toolkit
This toolkit is free for everyone. Fill in the form below to get the download link straight away. Members can also access supplementary documents in the ‘Downloads’ area after logging in.
Why this matters
The temporary accommodation system is at breaking point. In 2025/26, local authorities in England spent £2.93 billion housing people in temporary accommodation, and around £4 billion on homelessness overall.
Behind every figure is a family whose life is on hold. Unstable housing puts people’s long-term physical and mental health at risk. Meanwhile, rising costs, made worse by providers profiting from the crisis, are squeezing councils’ ability to fund other essential services, from adult social care to new social rent homes.
The long-term answer is building enough permanent, genuinely affordable homes: an estimated 90,000 additional social rent homes a year for 15 years. That will take time. Until then, councils need options that improve people’s lives now, at a cost the public purse can sustain.
What the toolkit does
The toolkit helps local authorities deliver better temporary accommodation within today’s political and financial realities. It is designed to:
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ensure best value for the public sector, recognising the cost to both local and national government and reducing overall cost
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work within the limits of constrained council borrowing
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avoid locking councils into long-term financial commitments, so it complements rather than replaces permanent social housing
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encourage a coordinated, standardised approach that can be repeated at scale
Toolkit Contributors and Sponsors:
Membership is open to professionals across the social and affordable housing delivery ecosystem including Registered Providers, local authorities, central government, MMC suppliers and others who want to take an active role in driving an uptick in social and affordable housing delivery. Become a member today.
