Temporary Accommodation Down 21% as Maidstone Council Marks First Year of Its 10-Year Strategy

Maidstone Borough Council has published its first annual review of the Corporate Strategy 2025-2035, reporting a 21% fall in the number of households living in temporary accommodation and highlighting what it calls ground-breaking work to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

The council delivered 167 affordable homes over the year, more than double the previous year's total and above its own annual target. Households living in temporary accommodation fell from 307 to 242, a 21% reduction, and the council says it supported 681 households into longer-term accommodation through homelessness prevention and housing support services - progress it describes as coming despite ongoing national housing pressures.

The report also covers the council's Citizens' Deliberation on Violence Against Women and Girls, which it says is the first of its kind run by a UK local authority. Thirty-seven residents took part, developing eight recommendations covering lifelong learning, women's representation in decision-making, survivor support, safer public spaces and youth-focused shared spaces. A multi-agency VAWG Action Group is now taking the recommendations forward, backed by £250,000 from the council.

Elsewhere, the review points to a new Community Fund that more than doubles available grant funding from £60,000 to £140,000 a year, including an emergency pot for local groups facing urgent costs; more than 9,000 trees planted and 176,000 square metres of land rewilded; Brenchley Gardens gaining Green Flag status, taking the borough to five nationally recognised green spaces; and the council becoming the first UK local authority to develop a Rights of Nature Framework. Council Leader Cllr Stuart Jeffery said: "We have delivered more affordable homes, helped more residents into settled accommodation, invested in our parks and green spaces, and supported local organisations that are making a real difference every day... while there is always more to do, we can be proud of what has been achieved." Source: Maidstone Borough Council