Three housing schemes for homeless families in Lewisham are closer to fruition, with the council seeking procurement for 112 ‘pop-up’ homes across Lee, Evelyn and Bellingham.

Lewisham’s mayor and cabinet gave permission for the council to start procurement on the schemes, which are expected to be completed in the summer of 2020.

This follows on from Place/Ladywell, a pop-up 'village' with transportable flats, which has provided temporary accommodation for 24 families who would otherwise be homeless since 2016.

The three schemes are in Mayfield in Burnt Ash Hill, Lee, Home Park in Bellingham, and Edward Street in Evelyn, Deptford and are part of the council’s commitment to build 500 new homes, with work beginning as early as summer 2019.

Cabinet member for housing Paul Bell said the council would be doing “extensive market research” in the procurement for the schemes.

Cllr Joe Dromey asked if there was work to be done to encourage local take-up of skills.

He said: “Is there anything we are doing alongside to stimulate demand to make sure we are making those skills available locally and make sure local people can benefit?”

Lewisham Council housing strategy manager Jeff Endean said the council had done “extensive testing” on how the projects could be delivered locally – with most manufacturing taking place in factories in the Midlands.

“Our main focus is connecting up construction hubs with those who may be able to benefit from the project,” he said.

The council have bid to the Greater London Authority for part-funding for the schemes, which are are expected to cost £29.2m.

Lewisham Council spends millions housing the homeless in temporary accommodation, spending more than £1.3 million on emergency accommodation in December alone.

At the same time the number of affordable rental homes in Lewisham has nearly halved in just seven years.

In 2010/2011 there were 1,890 affordable rental lets, with 920 households in temporary accommodation.

Projected affordable rentals for 2017/2018 are 1,147 with 1,959 homeless families in temporary accommodation.