PROPERTIES across Bournemouth are being bought up by the council in a new £11million scheme to help tackle homelessness in the borough.

Bournemouth Borough Council is set to invest some £11.7 million buying 110 homes on the open market over the next three years. All of which will be let to homeless households where the council has a statutory duty to house them.

The borough is also in the process of setting up a limited company called Seascape Homes and Property Limited, which would be wholly owned by the council, to let and manage the properties in a similar way to the private rented sector.

Homes will be purchased across a broad geographical area in Bournemouth. The first are already in pipeline, with the aim of having the some tenants in as soon as October.

The move is part of a new strategy being developed by the council to address a sharp rise in homelessness.

More than 5,600 enquiries about homelessness were made to the council in 2015/16 - up 89 per cent of the previous year, and the Borough was housing 58 families in temporary accommodation at the end of March 2016.

According to the draft report before the overview and scrutiny committee on July 12 just over half of homelessness cases are due to the termination of assured shorthold tenancies.

This is put down to a "very buoyant" private rental market which means "landlords often have a choice of households competing to be tenants," the report adds.

Cllr Bob Lawton, portfolio holder for housing, said: "There is a significant demand for private rented housing in Bournemouth. Our housing options team and their clients face a constant struggle to secure accommodation to prevent or resolve their homelessness situation.

"As a result, we have taken the decision to provide our own housing solutions in a similar way to that of the private rented sector.

"The benefit of this will not only be improved opportunities for our most vulnerable clients but good quality accommodation with plenty of support available to the tenants."

Properties will be let at local housing allowance levels or market rent levels. Tenancies will be assured shorthold tenancies with a minimum term of 12 months.

The new homelessness strategy is due to go to cabinet on October 13.