---
title: "Richmond’s Ten-Year Lease Plan Turns Family Homelessness Into a Permanent Council Cost"
type: note
genre: opinion
url: https://policystability.com/post/2026-11/richmonds-ten-year-lease-plan-turns-family-homelessness-into-a-permanent-council/
markdown_url: https://policystability.com/post/2026-11/richmonds-ten-year-lease-plan-turns-family-homelessness-into-a-permanent-council.md
publisher: "Center for Policy & Stability"
author: "Editorial Board, Center for Policy & Stability"
published: 2026-11-10
updated: 2026-11-10
program: "Cost of Living & Housing"
subtopic: "Housing failure"
countries: ["United States", "United Kingdom"]
tags: ["Richmond Council", "temporary accommodation", "homelessness", "England"]
format: response
responding_to: https://richmondonline.co.uk/richmond-temporary-accommodation-ten-year-leases/
claim: "Richmond’s proposed long leases are a pragmatic response to a housing system that is shifting the cost of family homelessness onto local government."
language: en
license: "© 2026 Center for Policy & Stability. Quotation with attribution permitted."
cite_as: "Center for Policy & Stability, \"Richmond’s Ten-Year Lease Plan Turns Family Homelessness Into a Permanent Council Cost,\" 10 November 2026, https://policystability.com/post/2026-11/richmonds-ten-year-lease-plan-turns-family-homelessness-into-a-permanent-council/"
---


# Richmond’s Ten-Year Lease Plan Turns Family Homelessness Into a Permanent Council Cost

> Richmond’s proposed long leases are a pragmatic response to a housing system that is shifting the cost of family homelessness onto local government.

Responding to: [Richmond Plans Ten-Year Leases as Homeless Housing Bill Nears £10m](https://richmondonline.co.uk/richmond-temporary-accommodation-ten-year-leases/), Richmond Online

Richmond Council wants to lease private homes for at least ten years and a day, placing homeless families in them instead of relying so heavily on short-term, night-by-night accommodation. [r1]

That is a practical attempt to buy stability in a market that has made instability expensive. It is also an admission that the council is no longer dealing with a brief emergency; it is financing a continuing housing shortage.

Richmond’s net direct cost of temporary accommodation rose from £3.4m in 2022/23 to £9.6m in 2025/26, while its housing department is forecasting a £2.698m overspend this year. [r1]

The arithmetic exposes the limits of treating homelessness as a problem that can be contained through annual budgets. When homes are scarce, councils become the buyer of last resort, carrying risks that should not be normal features of local government finance.

Most of Richmond’s temporary accommodation is rented night by night from private providers, whose prices can rise with little warning and whose standards vary. [r1]

The proposed leases are meant to reduce those pressures. The council estimates a potential net benefit of £6,000 a year for each home secured in this way. [r1]

Longer leases may give families a better and more settled placement. But they do not by themselves create affordable homes, reduce rents or make it easier for households to move into permanent accommodation. They make an entrenched problem more predictable for the council.

Richmond had 817 households in temporary accommodation in August 2026, or 721 excluding “homeless at home” cases. [r1]

The council says more households are entering temporary accommodation than leaving it, so the caseload keeps growing. [r1]

That is the central fact behind the procurement plan. A council can rearrange the contracts, but it cannot contract its way out of a shortage of homes that families can afford.

Richmond’s proposed model would aim, over five years, to divide its temporary accommodation roughly between long leases, council-owned homes and other arrangements. [r1]

That mix may improve control over costs and standards. It still leaves the public sector paying for the consequences of a housing system that has failed to provide a stable route out of homelessness.

Ten-year contracts may be sensible procurement. They are not a housing strategy. The longer this arrangement becomes normal, the harder it will be to pretend that family homelessness is a temporary interruption rather than a permanent charge on councils and the families they serve.

## References

1. [r1] Richmond Online. "Richmond Plans Ten-Year Leases as Homeless Housing Bill Nears £10m." 2026-11-10. https://richmondonline.co.uk/richmond-temporary-accommodation-ten-year-leases/ (context)

## About this note

Opinion published by the Editorial Board of the Center for Policy & Stability, researched and drafted with AI assistance.
Methodology: https://policystability.com/about/#methodology