FAMILIES knocking on the door for a home in Eastleigh have had to travel as far as Slough because of the borough's bed and breakfast famine.

The plight of the homeless having to make a trek of more than 60 miles because Eastleigh has no room at the inn was revealed during a meeting of the Borough Council's powerful executive cabinet.

It came as executive councillors were warned that the borough's housing crisis was deepening. Councillor Anne Winstanley, the council's social policy supremo, told how the homeless were having to go outside the borough to get bed and breakfast accommodation.

She said: "We have used bed and breakfast in Slough although we are not doing that any more."

B&Bs are currently being used in neighbouring Southampton and Totton, and homeless families have also been sent to Fareham.

She said that going outside the borough caused disruption for the family and their employment.

In a report, the council's head of housing services Amanda Jobling said: "At present we do not have access to any B&Bs in Eastleigh.

"We have found it extremely difficult to persuade owners in the borough to come forward, although we continue to try to find new B & B's in the area."

Council leader Keith House described it as grim situation and said it underlined the urgent need for more affordable housing in the borough.

A typical charge for a weekly stay in B & B for a couple with a child was £350. And the homelessness crisis in Eastleigh is sending council costs through the roof.

This year's borough budget for bed and breakfast accommodation has already been gobbled up. Now civic chiefs are being warned that the situation is likely to get worse and housing officers are even considering asking families to rent a room to the homeless.

Although the council is only into the second quarter of the financial year, the £30,000 budget earmarked for bed and breakfast accommodation for the homeless has already been spent - and costs will continue to rise.

Up to the end of July the council had already spent £46,116 because of the increase in the number of families knocking on the council's door for temporary shelter.

A Whitehall shake-up over those who now qualify as homeless - including 16 and 17 year-olds - has pushed up the demand for B & B.

Eastleigh Borough Council is acquiring some new temporary accommodation for homeless households in a bid to ease the housing crisis.

It is also investigating ways of offering private landlords an incentive to keep accommodation for rent.