Council Rated ‘Red’ for its Performance in Preventing Homelessness

Concern has been raised after the council has been rated ‘red’ for its performance in preventing homelessness.

Westmorland and Furness Council is rated yearly on how many successful homelessness prevention outcomes it achieves.

But the council was behind target on the indicator as of quarter three of 2025-26, with a target of 51 per cent of homelessness prevention outcomes being successful, but only 45.3 per cent being so.

It had also been behind in quarter one, attaining 43.8 per cent against a target of 65 per cent, but the council did achieve over target in quarter two, a 54.1 per cent of homelessness prevention outcomes being successful compared to a target of 51 per cent.

But the most recent quarter being off-target means the Liberal Democrat-led council achieved a red rating.

Labour Councillor Anne Burns raised the issue at the full council meeting on May 7.

The Old Barrow and Hindpool representative said: “I do already know that Barrow, particularly, has seen a large increase in the people presenting as homeless.

“I would like to ask the cabinet member what the council are going to do to prioritise meeting this target for the prevention of homelessness, not just in Barrow, but throughout Westmorland and Furness.”

Councillor Judith Derbyshire, cabinet member for housing and community safety, said she would get back to Cllr Burns with more information on homelessness.

She said: “I know we’ve got issues – it used to be in Barrow we had an easier rental market and we had more properties available, but with changes going on there, as we know, there is a lot more pressure on the market there.

“We have also got similar issues going on in the Penrith area, because of a lot of things going on to do with the A66.

“And the housing market in Kendal has always been pressured, and the central Lake District is not good at all.

“It is that problem for us that we have a lot of people in temporary accommodation, but when trying to move out into other accommodation, they struggle to find it.”