A number of incentives for council tenants were reviewed at Cabinet on 4 November. The aim of the changes is to ensure that housing resources are aimed at those tenants with the greatest needs.
Recent consultation with tenant representatives on the housing strategy identified the under occupation of council properties, as being of significant concern to them.
The proposals went to Overview and Scrutiny (Public Services)* who recommended:-
· The objective of giving incentives should be to reduce under occupancy.
· Incentives should be given only to those who need the service and to those living in appropriately sized housing.
· Incentives should be phased out where appropriate, rather than stopped.
· Consideration should also be given to using funds saved from phasing out incentives, to improve the green spaces on the estates.
Therefore it has been decided to make the following changes:-
The 50th anniversary payment rewarded anyone who had been a council tenant continuously for fifty years, with a payment of 4 weeks rent. This meant that tenants occupying larger homes with higher rents received larger payments. This payment is now seen to be unfair as an increasing number of people housed by the Council do not become council tenants but are referred to Housing Associations or Registered Social Landlords. It also unfairly rewards people who live in larger accommodation where rents are inevitably higher.
The savings used from withdrawal of this benefit will be used to increase the grant for tenants who voluntarily move from larger accommodation to one bedroom properties thereby enabling families on the waiting list to be housed in the more suitable, family sized properties.
The decoration scheme for tenants over 60 years old who live alone and / or have a disability, enabled them to have one room in their house decorated free of charge every two years. The current budget for this is £50,000.
There are currently 160 tenants on the waiting list for this service.
This service will be withdrawn when committed expenditure to cover those on the waiting list has been utilised. The funds will in future be used to decorate vacant retirement housing and elderly designated properties to make them more attractive for people wishing to move to smaller properties. In addition, once the existing waiting list has been cleared some of the savings will be used to provide a handyman service to assist tenants on the day they move into a property, if they’re moving from a larger property into retirement housing or properties designated for the elderly.
The gardening scheme for tenants over 60 years old, who live alone, and / or have a disability, currently pays for a free basic gardening service. However the cost of providing this service for 2008/9 was £129,842 and it encourages people who can no longer maintain their property to remain there rather than consider moving to an alternative, more suitable property. It also means that people waiting for a property with it’s own garden, who can maintain it have longer to wait.
It is proposed to introduce a charge for those receiving this service.
The service charge will be introduced in April 2010, existing service users will pay 50% of the cost in 2010/2011 and 100% of the cost from 2011/2012. New applicants to the scheme will pay 100% of the cost from the outset.
Cllr Joyce Lusby commented: “The above changes will result in the Council being able to direct £158K to other parts of the service where it’s most needed.”