A council project to provide extra accommodation for homeless people will help to reduce the number of families being housed in substandard bed and breakfasts.

Haringey Council will convert the former Adult Day Care Centre and the Kurdish Community Centre in Birkbeck Road, Tottenham, into 22 temporary homes for people who find themselves with nowhere to live.

Equipped with en-suite bathrooms and modern, shared kitchens, the accommodation will be used to house people for a short period while the council works out what support it is able to provide.

Haringey’s cabinet voted to approve the conversion of the ground floor of 2-152 Birkbeck Road into temporary housing at a meeting on Tuesday (October 9).

The £1 million project will ultimately help the council to cut costs by reducing the amount of money spent on housing homeless families in private accommodation.

Councillor Emine Ibrahim, deputy council leader and cabinet member for housing and estate renewal, said: “Many of you will know there has been a historical reliance on bed and breakfast accommodation – often really poor standard, really appalling conditions.

“This has been a problem for local authorities since the 1980s.

“What we have seen over recent years is the council seeking to deliver accommodation ourselves. This will be a third premises we are seeking to convert.

“This facility will have en-suite bathrooms. There won’t be shared bathrooms – that is very important, and I would like to see all forms of emergency accommodation in the future take that into consideration.”

Cllr Ibrahim said the time just after becoming homeless can be very disruptive for children and have an impact on their education.

She added: “This type of accommodation, if we do as much as we possibly can to improve it, then I think we will reap dividends.”

Council officials ruled out converting the space into council housing due to a “pressing need” for more emergency accommodation.

They pointed out that it could still be converted into council housing in the future.

Leaving the space empty was also ruled out because it could increase the risk of squatters moving in and the building falling into disrepair.