As temporary housing costs spiral across the region, 23 new units for homeless people are being built in Ashford.
They are designed as an energy-efficient alternative to building new homes, but is the flood-affected car park scheme something that could be extended to other parts of Kent? Liane Castle reports.
“Life in the car was not a good time for us. One of these pods would have been better than the street.”
Friday Quick’s assessment of Ashford Borough Council’s project on the Henwood Industrial Estate, the first of its kind in the region, will no doubt be shared by others facing a similar situation.
She and her partner Richard Warrior, of Chatham, were left homeless in 2022 after being served with a Section 21 order, a so-called no-fault eviction order that allows landlords to evict a tenant without giving reasons.
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After living in their car for three weeks, the couple say they would have loved to have been given a pod during this difficult time.
“I think more city councils should do this kind of thing,” said Ms Quick, 51.
“We are still in temporary housing after two years and we are having problems with it, so I would definitely take one.”
The scheme, called Fortis House, includes ABC’s first carbon-neutral properties, designed to provide temporary shelter for people while they search for permanent housing.
In March, contractors put the first of the 12-ton pods into place, and the final batch was delivered last month.
The temporary housing project, which is being built on the former Henwood car park next to Ashford Fire Station, is expected to be completed in September, with the first residents set to move in shortly thereafter.
The authority is implementing the project with Zed Pods, a British modular company based in London, which designs and builds the homes in a factory before delivering them and installing them on site.
The council leaders successfully applied to Homes England for funding for the scheme.
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The government is contributing £80,000 per unit, totalling £1,840,000 towards the £7.4 million programme cost, with the remainder being met by ABC.
Responses to Freedom of Information Act requests from KentOnline last year revealed that all councils in the region have seen an increase in spending on temporary accommodation, with large sums going to private landlords.
Statistics show that costs in Ashford have risen from £739,749 in 2018-19 to £1,952,648 in 2022-23. That’s an increase of 163.9%.
Councillor Noel Ovenden (Ashford Independents), who has led the ABC since May last year, says the homelessness problem in Ashford is “huge” and that is why he is focused on ensuring the authority does everything it can to reduce the problem.
The authority has long harboured ambitions to develop the Park Mall shopping centre into a housing estate and is considering converting the current Civic Centre headquarters in Tannery Lane into social housing when it moves to nearby International House.
“I don’t like building at any price,” said Councillor Ovenden, who represents Wye.
“It has to give us something back as a community, as a city, to look at the bigger picture and make this a better place. It’s a difficult task.
“We are continuing, despite accusations that we only want to build apartments.
“ABC is not just going out to build flats. But if those flats were all social housing, if they all took people off our waiting list of 2,000 for housing, then I would not be ashamed of that.
“Building our own social housing is the best way forward.
“People think that the municipality is only there to demolish it and replace it with apartments, because there is the impression that the municipality is only interested in the municipal tax paid by the residents.
“That’s not what I’m interested in. I’m interested in my city.”
Originally, converted shipping containers were to be used at Fortis House, but bosses say the Zed Pods products are more environmentally friendly as they are designed to be energy efficient.
The homes are well insulated and have triple glazing. There are 175 solar panels on the roof.
The 23 residential units consist of a mix of 13 one-bedroom homes, nine two-bedroom homes and one three-bedroom home, allowing for a variety of individuals and families to be accommodated.
There is a large communal garden and 19 parking spaces, including two disabled parking spaces.
Each apartment is occupied by one household and has its own kitchen, bathroom and balcony.
There is extra space underneath the apartments to store items such as bicycles.
ABC, which has been led by a coalition of Ashford Independents/Green Party since May last year, approved the plan in 2022 despite concerns about the potential for flooding due to the site being next to the River Stour.
The former parking lot has been flooded by floodwaters in the past, but according to ABC this is not a problem because the houses are built on stilts, making them 2.4 meters high.
In a further update issued this week, the authority said it must clear “dead and dying trees” on land adjacent to the site to “protect property in the surrounding area”.
Dr. Rehan Khodabuccus, Technical and Operations Director at Zed Pods, hopes the program will help people find their way.
“Having your own front door and your own keys really makes a difference in people’s lives,” he said.
“What we saw in projects we did elsewhere is that it created an upward spiral in people.
“So people who got their own place got good jobs, kept those jobs, and that then led to future employment.
“It’s really important to provide for those basic needs and we hope we’ve done that in a way that not only protects the people who come to live here, but also protects the environment and also looks at creating the homes that we need in the future.”
According to Dr. Khodabuccus, designing the plan on the former parking lot is also a challenge.
“In Ashford we have learned a lot from other programs around the country,” he added.
“We had to ask ourselves the question: how do we create a plan in a place where land is limited and how can we use a brownfield location instead of looking at greenfield locations to realize high-quality housing?
“Not only do we have high standards for environmental performance, we are also building above an existing car park, so the land cannot be built on in any other way.”
Dr Khodabuccus says the units “use a lot of natural daylight inside, making them nice and light and airy”.
He added: “We have controlled ventilation as part of the energy strategy and that means you get lots of fresh air in but you keep the heat in the building, which reduces the energy bill.
“Then you also have the solar panels that generate more energy than the building consumes during the year.
“There are lots of beautiful floor finishes that are hard wearing, but still nice and bright, a very neutral colour scheme inside, and with the natural daylight it’s a really nice place to live.
“Our buildings are also equipped with breathable wall structures, which means that no moisture remains in the building. This means that the chance of condensation inside is very small and therefore also the chance of mould growth.
“We are really focused on addressing the key issues that have come up in social housing recently.”
While the pods are the first of their kind in Ashford, a similar scheme is also in the pipeline in Gravesend for single people using SoloHaus Pods.
Property developer The Hill Group has donated eight pods to Gravesham Council to help tackle rising homelessness in the borough, but plans for the scheme are yet to be announced.
Dr Khodabuccus says he would like to see projects like this implemented across Kent.
“Right now we have about seven plans that have been approved across the country and another 10 or so plans are in the planning stage or at various stages of construction,” he added.
“So we really drive past as many houses as possible in the United Kingdom.
“There is great potential in many different parts of Kent to look at some of those local authority sites that may have been overlooked for housing.”