Croydon Council has approved the acquisition of Zodiac House, a newly refurbished building with 73 homes to help support residents facing homelessness and address the growing national demand for temporary accommodation.

Like many other Councils across London and the country, Croydon is experiencing increasing demand for homelessness services owing to not enough affordable homes, and high rents in the private sector.

The purchase of Zodiac House is part of the Council’s proactive approach to tackling homelessness by providing safe temporary homes to local families and individuals, whilst they look for long-term housing. It also helps the Council to meet its Homelessness Duty under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and reduce costs to the Council with less use of other more expensive temporary housing options.

The building will have a mix of one, two and three-bedroom flats and will be managed by the Council, making sure that everything is well maintained. Each flat will be furnished with essential items like white goods, basic furniture, and wardrobe spaces. There will be a 24-hour concierge service to support tenants.

The project will use a mix of funds from the Right to Buy scheme, Local Authority Housing Grant and borrowing. It is expected to reduce costs by £987,000 per annum and avoid long terms costs to the Council as they will be relying less on the current private expensive nightly rates for temporary housing. This is currently estimated at £78m over a 40 year period.

This approach aligns with the Executive Mayor Perry’s Business Plan for Croydon, which focuses on delivering more affordable homes, improving housing quality, and ensuring homes are safer and better designed for residents.

“This is another step in addressing the significant homelessness challenges we face. The increased demand for services and shortage of accommodation means we have to look at doing things differently, and the purchase of Zodiac House is a good example of this.

“The scheme will give us 73 residential units to support residents facing homelessness. This will improve the Council’s supply of accommodation and reduce spending on expensive temporary arrangements, as well as providing safe and secure homes for our residents.”

Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon