“Innovative” £8.4m plans to tackle Bromley’s housing problems have been signed off by councillors.

Councillors agreed to free up funding on Wednesday night to invest in moveable, modular homes that will bring down expensive temporary accommodation costs.

The move is the “first step” in council blueprints for up to 1,000 new homes in the borough in the next three years.

Under the proposed scheme, up to 57 modular temporary accommodation units could be built in the Anerley Town Hall overflow car park and Bushell Way, subject to planning permission.

New figures show  1,570 households in temporary accommodation in the borough, with 994 in expensive forms paid by the night.

If current predictions are right, then the cost of temporary accommodation will rise by about £7m a year by 2022.

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Councillor Peter Morgan, housing cabinet member, said: “Housing is up front and centre for this council for jolly good reasons. One is money, which is a bit dispassionate, but it does cost a lot of money when we have to put people up in expensive accommodation.

“Secondly, and far more importantly, is the welfare of the people concerned. We have something like 1,600 families we are looking after at the moment.

“This is building new homes for these people. They will be proper new homes capable of occupation for something like 100-years. They will be really nice places to live in.

“This is the first step in a programme that I think we can provide 1,000 homes in the next three years.”

An average of 15 households a month are becoming homeless in Bromley – a figure expected to grow due to the controversial roll-out of Universal Credit.

The move was welcomed by the entire council and voted through unanimously.

At the same meeting the authority signed off on its accounts for the last year admist opposition criticism that previous cuts are having consequences.

Labour councillor Kathy Bance said: “As a council are we doing enough work on the effects of the possible reinstatement of costs when the cuts go wrong?

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“I attended a memorial on Sunday where a person lost their life shortly before they entered a place of safety.

“I learned that we have had safer neighbourhoods officers on the high street supporting rough sleepers. If the council had continued to work with Bromley Homeless Shelter, instead of cutting their budget, their teams could have been doing that work, in doing so making the budget work for Bromley.

“We are making too many budget U-turns costing us money you thought we would be saving, and in the meantime our residents are suffering.”