Hopkinson House in Pimlico that was built in 1906

THE city council has splashed out on an Edwardian hostel following a surge in applications for emergency housing.

Councillors said Hopkinson House in Vauxhall Bridge Road, Pimlico, would be used to meet the increasing demand for “temporary accommodation”, homes for people in urgent need but unable to get a secure council tenancy.

The four-storey building dating from 1906, a hostel for vulnerable adults run by Look Ahead, will be converted from its current provision of 63 homes to 33 mainly family-sized units, following planning consent. It was put up for sale in 2022.

Finance chief Cllr David Boothroyd said: “As with many other local authorities, Westminster City Council is seeing a significant increase in approaches from individuals and households in housing need.

“The end of private rented tenancies and the inability to find alternative affordable accommodation, together with family breakdown and domestic violence, are the most common reasons given by those seeking housing support.

“We have set aside capital funding to buy property to suit temporary tenants, so council taxpayers do not end up having to pay over the odds to put people in hotels.

“Hopkinson House was very suitable, and we’re pleased our negotiations to acquire it were successful.

“We’ll now begin looking at options for reconfiguration of Hopkinson House in order to provide appropriate housing for families and individuals for whom we have a duty.”

The renovation of the “U-shape building” will aim to “maximise the number of family-sized units”.

The city council’s spend on temporary accommodation shot up by £34million between 2022/23 and 2023/24, the biggest jump in a decade.

In the last year 3,000 households applied to the council as homeless, which represented a 35 per cent increase on the previous 12 months.

In March council leader Adam Hug wrote in the Extra: “Private rental costs have gone up over 21 per cent in the last year, while the supply of suitable properties for the council to rent as temporary accommodation is going down.

“We’ve seen an in-year rise of 700 households come into temporary accommodation and are predicting a further 500 in the coming year.

“This means we are facing a temporary accommodation bill that is £38million higher for 2024/25 than was planned for 2023/24.

“The council’s finances are robust and we have an action plan in place to bring this bill down, including ramping up further our acquisitions plan to buy 270 new homes for temporary accommodation.”

The council did not disclose how much it had spent on the hostel but said the acquisition was “good value for money’ and would be funded mainly through the temporary acquisitions budget, which is £85million.