Hundreds of Herefordshire families are now classed as homeless and are living in temporary accommodation, new data has revealed.

The data, revealed by a recent freedom of information request to Herefordshire Council, showed that 230 households had been classed as homeless in Herefordshire, and had been placed in a form of temporary accommodation in the county.

The council said that 59 households were placed outside of the county, with eight different local authorities used for external placements in the last financial year.

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

The overall number of placements in the last financial year totalled 447, with 350 of these placements being in hotels and bed and breakfasts and 97 in privately owned self-contained properties.

The number of placements in hotels and bed and breakfasts in the county comes after it was shown that between July and September last year, £128,913 was spent on Travelodges and Premier Inns to house homeless individuals in the county.

ALSO READ:

The request also revealed that hundreds of complaints had been made to the council regarding private landlords in the county failing to maintain required minimum standards.

207 complaints of this nature were made to the council, which resulted in 200 inspections being carried out, but only two improvement notices being issued to landlords.

In July, it was announced by Herefordshire Council that an extra £5 million would be spent over the next two years buying potential properties to help house the county's increasing number of homeless families. Due to rising social housing needs, the council said the stock of properties needed to be increased.