The cost of homelessness  in Denbighshire has doubled in three years.

Since 2015 the council’s bill for placing families in emergency accommodation has jumped from £599,708 to £1,220,580.

Over the same period of time the number of homeless families who were put into emergency accommodation rose from 228 to 372.

Lower Denbigh county councillor Rhys Thomas praised the staff who worked in the homelessness department but expressed frustration that there was a lack of permanent accommodation in which to place homeless families.

And he was also concerned  that homeless families with children were placed together in hotel accommodation that could be far from their homes.

He said: “This can mean that there is the added problem that their children can not attend their usual schools and that their parents can not reach their place of work due to being placed far from home.”

“Working with private landlords to bringing empty homes back into use and then placing homeless families in them was far better than throwing away taxpayers money every year on expensive b and b accommodation in hotels”.

“Being made homeless is something which could happen to any one of us. “These families are often traumatised by being made homeless. It can happen through no fault of their own.”

The council argued that a rule change has seen an increase in the numbers of people eligible for the accommodation.

A spokesman for Denbighshire Council said: “Over recent years, the council and its partners have been working on a wide range of initiatives to try and reduce homelessness and finding longer term solutions for individuals or families who may find themselves without a home.

“The number of homeless people is increasing nationally and that does pose an issue for local authorities, including Denbighshire to find solutions. Those solutions include working with registered social landlords, as well as private property owners to provide quality housing options.

“In 2018/19  1,579 households in Denbighshire presented as homeless, with 24% of them placed in emergency and temporary accommodation. There has been an increase in the figures since 2016/17 and that is primarily a result of the implementation of the Housing Act Wales (2014) being introduced which widened eligibility for homelessness support duty.

“Now the council has brought all of its plans under an overarching Homelessness Strategy. The aim is to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation by 50%.”

But Jennie Bibbings, campaigns manager at Shelter Cymru, felt the new law had made little difference in terms of demand.

She said: “Demand on temporary accommodation has been going up and up in Denbighshire as in other parts of Wales in recent years. Some have blamed the Welsh homelessness legislation introduced in 2015 for this increase, but that’s misleading because the legal right to be placed in temporary accommodation hasn’t substantially changed – just like under the old system, it is still only available for people in priority need.

“What we are seeing in Denbighshire is the result of prolonged austerity and a long-term lack of investment in affordable housing. There aren’t enough houses available to rent that are affordable for people on low incomes, either in social housing or the private rented sector. “