South London council books out 70 rooms at hotel for 9 months to put homeless families in

Joe Coughlan
·3-min read
Radisson Red hotel on Tunnel Avenue, Greenwich, London, UK
-Credit: (Image: Google Earth)


Greenwich Council has approved plans to spend up to £5 million on hotel room bookings to be used exclusively for emergency accommodation, as the amount of homeless households in the borough hits record numbers. The council has reserved 70 rooms at the Radisson Red hotel on Tunnel Avenue to use for emergency accommodation.

The authority awarded the contract to Theori Housing Managements Services Ltd for use of the hotel for nine months at a cost of £2.14m. Council documents said the term can be extended by up to a year, which would lead to the total cost of the contract being just over £5m. The report added that there were currently over 1,950 households in the council's care in temporary accommodation, the most the authority had ever seen.

The council has forecast a £6m overspend in its annual budget for temporary accommodation by next April, following a £10m overspend the year before. This was largely attributed to its reliance on chain hotel rooms, claiming it was paying for about 250 hotel rooms at an average loss to the authority of £70 per room per night.

The rooms in the contract would be available with no restriction on the lengths of bookings, with council officers saying in their report that the authority was currently relying on hotel rooms located outside the borough and with maximum stays of 28 nights each. Council officers said that the authority was receiving an increasing number of legal challenges and complaints from placements not being in the borough and the new contract could provide savings of approximately £300,000 a year for the council.

READ MORE: Greenwich Council pays damages to care home resident who was raped and attacked by staff

A general view of a Travelodge in south London, Britain, 27 October 2023. Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon
Greenwich Council has reportedly bought over 550 homes since 2017 to try and move away from booking Travelodge rooms -Credit:Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon

The report said: "The majority of these rooms are not in our borough, placing additional stresses and strains on homeless families. This is unsustainable and places unacceptable risk on the council's finances and its ability to manage the provision of temporary accommodation. It is therefore essential that the council takes urgent steps to addressing the situation."

The Radisson Red hotel on Tunnel Avenue was previously used by the Home Office as a contingency hotel for those seeking asylum in the country. The new agreement will ensure a housing officer is present at the hotel at all times, with a safeguarding team and health and safety officer available offsite.

Council documents stated the authority was not relying on hotel rooms to address emergency accommodation concerns as recently as two years ago. A report from October last year revealed Greenwich Council had spent £800,000 in one month on Travelodge rooms amid 'unprecedented and unforeseeable' rises in emergency accommodation. The report said over 200 households had been placed in hotels by the council at the end of June 2023.

Council officers said the authority had purchased over 550 homes since 2017 to reduce its reliance on Travelodge. They added that 'fierce competition' had led councils to outbid each other to secure non-chain hotel bookings in other London boroughs, breaching a London-wide agreement.

Have a story you want to share? Email joseph.coughlan@reachplc.com.

Don't miss out on the biggest local stories. Sign up to our MySouthLondon newsletter HERE for all the latest daily news and more.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • "This Is How You 'Trillionaire'": People Are Sharing Habits Of The Ultra-Wealthy That Sound Made Up, But Are Actually Real

    "I know a very rich person who hired a personal assistant to do this..."

  • 'We flew to Mallorca for the day to sunbathe and it cost just £61'

    Paul and Julieanne Calcutt said their trip to the Spanish island was cheaper than getting the train to London.

  • ‘Why would I go somewhere locals don’t want me?’: Readers’ views on anti-tourism protests

    Anti-tourist protests are disrupting holidaymakers across Europe, with British visitors subject to placards reading “tourism kills the city”, vandalism and even water-pistol attacks.

  • Little-known mansion in Welsh countryside with royal link crowned one of Europe's best hotels

    Steeped in rich history and golden furnishings, this luxury hotel is getting the recognition it deserves. Situated on 50 acres of manicured lawns an a former home to the Duke of Westminster, this regal resort is ideal for Bridgerton lovers

  • Ten red flags to avoid when choosing a restaurant on holiday

    After a long day hobbling over the cobblestones of ancient Rome, fuelled by gelato and Campari, I succumbed to an overzealous Italian.

  • King Charles' rarely-pictured 'secret' feature inside 775-room London home

    King Charles and Queen Camilla's London home Buckingham Palace has "secret" areas that aren't often pictured. See inside one area leading to the private apartments...

  • Couple open unique bar offering 'everything under one roof' in Warrington

    A NEW bar offering ‘everything under one roof’ has opened in Warrington.

  • Forget Mount Fuji. Here are 5 underrated day trips to take from Tokyo, according to a Japanese local.

    Efforts have been made to avoid overcrowding around Mount Fuji. Day trips can be taken from Tokyo to Kegon Falls in Nikko or hot springs in Atami.

  • An Olympian effort: my struggle to cycle from London to Paris

    The 250-mile Avenue Verte cycle route opened in time for the 2012 London Olympics. One side of the Channel is a smooth ride, the other is not fit for purpose – but that could all change thanks to the vision of one man

  • Fancy a Mr Whippy? 2 North East locations among cheapest for legendary ice cream

    Find out where in the North East is among the cheapest locations for a Mr Whippy ice cream in the UK, according to a new survey.

  • UK tourists in Spain warned to follow strict clothing rule 'no matter where'

    An American woman who now lives in Spain has issued a warning to Brits about the country's strict clothing rule, saying residents 'really care about what they look like'

  • Animal-shaped buildings that will blow your mind

    Weird and wonderful examples of animalistic architecture from around the world.

  • 6 beautiful buildings saved from demolition

    These historic masterpieces and important landmark buildings were all saved from an uncertain fate...

  • I work on the world's largest residential yacht that's like the Four Seasons on steroids. Some guests have lived on it for over 20 years.

    The general manager of "The World," the largest private residential yacht on earth, describes it as like living in the Four Seasons on steroids.

  • Coastguard called to help someone in difficulty in the sea

    The coastguard was called to reports of someone in difficulty in the sea near Bournemouth Pier that turned out to be a false alarm.

  • Israel targets Hezbollah commander in south Beirut strike

    Israel struck Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut on Tuesday in retaliation for rocket fire from Lebanon that killed 12 children over the weekend, saying it had targeted the commander responsible for the attack. "The IDF (army) carried out a targeted strike in Beirut on the commander responsible for the murder of the children in Majdal Shams and the killing of numerous additional Israeli civilians," the military said in a statement, referring to the Druze Arab town in the annexed Golan Heights where the children were killed on Saturday.A source close to the Iran-backed militant group confirmed that "a leading commander" was the target of the strike, which hit near the group's decision making body, the Shura Council. The source added that two people were killed in the strike, but was unable to confirm if the commander was among them.Minutes after the explosions rocked Beirut, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted on social media site X that "Hezbollah crossed the red line".Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had on Monday threatened a "severe response" to the attack which Israel and the United States have blamed on Hezbollah, though the group denies responsibility.Following Saturday's strike, the international community had raced to head off any escalation that might tip the two into a first all-out conflict since 2006.Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Monday he had received assurances from international diplomats that there would be only a limited response."Israel will escalate in a limited way and Hezbollah will respond in a limited way... These are the assurances we've received," Bou Habib said in an interview with local broadcaster Al-Jadeed.Analysts told AFP that they also expected Israel to temper its actions, with its leaders wary of having to fight a second war while its troops are still engaged in the Gaza Strip.- 'Constant anxiety' -At least 531 people have been killed on the Lebanese side of the near daily cross-border exchanges, according to an AFP tally. Most have been fighters, but the toll includes at least 105 civilians.The violence has so far killed 22 soldiers and 25 civilians on the Israeli side, including in the Golan Heights, according to army figures.There was further deadly violence earlier on Tuesday, with Israeli medics saying a 30-year-old civilian had been killed in the northern kibbutz of HaGoshrim. The military said it had killed a Hezbollah fighter during overnight strikes.Druze residents of the Majdal Shams -- the vast majority of whom have rejected Israeli citizenship and identify as Syrians -- had opposed threats of retaliation for the deadly strike.Scores of residents had come out to protest Netanyahu's visit after the burial of the last of the victims of the rocket strike.A paramedic from Majdal Shams, Nabih Abu Saleh, told AFP his community was "against any Israeli response", and asked: "Who will we strike? Our people in Syria and Lebanon?"A French diplomat told AFP earlier that Paris "alongside other partners, notably the United States, is making all-out efforts to call on the parties to exercise restraint and not to be drawn into spiralling violence".Multiple international airlines suspended flights to Beirut ahead of Israel's retaliation, although the chairman of Lebanon's Middle East Airlines, Mohammed al-Hout, said Beirut airport, its only international facility, "is not exposed to any threat, it is supposed to be a neutral place", state media reported.The Lebanese public, meanwhile, has been gripped by worry, with mother of two Cosette Beshara describing living "in a state of constant anxiety"."I'm always thinking about how I will escape with my children if war breaks out," said the 40-year-old, adding that "life goes on in Lebanon... but always with a looming state of anxiety."- Khan Yunis operation -Hezbollah has said its attacks on northern Israel are in solidarity with Hamas and the people of Gaza, who have been under siege by Israel since October 7.The Hamas attack on southern Israel that started the war resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.Israel's retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details on civilian and militant deaths.Fighting has raged on unabated in the Gaza Strip, with the territory's civil defence agency saying on Tuesday that around 300 people had been killed in the southern city of Khan Yunis during an Israeli operation there that began on July 22."Since the beginning of the Israeli ground invasion of the eastern part of Khan Yunis province, the civil defence and medical teams have recovered approximately 300 bodies of martyrs, many of them decomposed," agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.The military meanwhile said it had completed its operation in the Khan Yunis area, which had seen heavy fighting earlier this year, and had killed "over 150 terrorists".burs-dcp/hkb

  • Virgin Atlantic turned its nicest business seats into a 'Retreat Suite' — see inside

    Virgin Atlantic is spending $17 billion to overhaul its fleet. Among its most luxurious introductions is the Retreat Suite, exclusive to its A330neo.

  • Pick-your-own farm threatens to kick out customers who sample strawberries

    A strawberry picking row has erupted after a farm threatened to kick out customers who sample the summer fruit before they pay.

  • Inside a Striking $19.5 Million Art Deco Villa Along the Portuguese Riviera

    Casa Verde, built in the 1940s and substantially modernized, is located minutes from the ocean along Portugal's exclusive coastal region of Cascais.

  • Spanish or French? Pheasant Island is about to swap nationalities — again

    The day of the handover, which happens twice a year, is one of the rare occasions visitors are allowed to visit this 200-metre-long island, one of only a handful of condominiums in the world.