Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q12/13-14

Mr John Williams

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Co-operatives and Community Development)

Evictions for rent arrears

The Labour Leader of Renfrewshire Council has pledged that no tenant of his Authority will be evicted for rent arrears directly arising from the Under Occupancy Penalty, provided the Authority is apprised of the full circumstances.  Why does this Authority not request Plymouth Community Homes to adopt a similar policy? 

Response:

We have asked them and Plymouth Community Homes has said, like all other Housing Associations in Plymouth, that they will not commit to such a policy for a number of reasons including:

·         Such a policy would be impractical – wider welfare reforms make it hard to tell whether applicants have fallen into arrears as a result of the bedroom tax or because of other reasons (this is substantiated by data provided by Plymouth Community Homes that indicates that where under-occupiers are in rent arrears at this time, 90% were already in arrears prior to the bedroom tax being introduced).

·         That it would be unfair to other tenants to introduce a ‘no eviction’ policy for under-occupiers, when other tenants who fall into arrears will continue to have eviction action taken against them.

·         It gives the wrong message - tenants perceptions of a ‘no eviction’ policy may result in them not prioritising rent payments where they would otherwise have made them, because they’re aware that no action will be taken against them.

·         The impact of reduced income for Housing Associations could result in them being unable to secure new funding to build new homes (a Council priority) and at worst could result in instability for the organisation that would be unsustainable in the longer term.

PCC is not a landlord and can’t instruct housing associations like PCH to follow any particular course of action.  This does not mean that Housing Associations are not strongly committed to working in partnership with the City Council to mitigate the significant problems that the bedroom tax and other welfare reforms are causing the citizens of Plymouth, and to prevent evictions wherever possible. 

A number of them – including Plymouth Community Homes - have employed dedicated staff to support tenants to downsize and help them to develop budgeting skills as well as access the available hardship funds.

This positive work is underpinned by initiatives introduced by Plymouth City Council that include:-

·         Use of the Discretionary Housing Payments scheme to enable tenants in difficulty to meet rent payments when housing benefit has been reduced due to under-occupation.

·         Easy and local access to welfare rights advisors, debt advice and budgeting skills workshops which has so far helped local people claim over £800,000 in previously unclaimed benefits to which they were entitled.

·         Supporting the development of Plymouth Energy Community which offers savings on energy bills and protection against rising energy prices.

·         A weekly pre-court ‘arrears panel’ that is attended by social landlords and tenants to negotiate and agree action plans to prevent further possession action being taken.

·         Giving under-occupiers in social housing greater priority through Devon Home Choice (Band ‘B’) to give them a better chance of downsizing to more affordable properties.

·         Proactive work to engage with affected tenants before they reach crisis/potential eviction arrearsaction.  Plans currently include an ‘advice bus’ that will tour social housing estates in January 2014 with Housing Association officers working alongside welfare reform advisors to discuss potential to mutual exchange with other tenants, access to hardship funds, and support to develop budgeting skills.

You can see from this that Plymouth’s Labour Council and its partner housing providers are putting in significant resources to mitigate the impact of the Conservative government’s Bedroom Tax which is an iniquitous and blunt tool. Nearly 1000 tenants now have to find 14% of their rent from other benefits – an average of £17pw. Nearly 240 households have to find 25% - or around £24pw at a time when heating bills, food and other costs are increasing or move from their family home.

The Conservative Bedroom Tax indiscriminately causes hardship and worry to many including vulnerable people who have no choice or opportunity to avoid its impact, as the Tory-led coalition government has not evaluated whether there are suitable homes for people to move to, before implementing it.

In Plymouth there are over 600 households waiting to downsize to avoid the Bedroom Tax, but despite Plymouth being a top quartile performer in delivering new homes – there is just not enough supply to meet this demand in the short or medium term. 

Rather than asking housing providers to put their businesses at risk through soaking up the benefit loss, or for other tenants to subsidise this cut, a more effective action would be to lobby this Tory-led Government to abolish the bedroom tax now. I am glad that local MP Alison Seabeck voted to do just this in a recent parliamentary debate. I am proud to be part of Plymouth’s Labour Council and to back Ed Miliband’s promise to scrap the Bedroom Tax.