Government raises rent on Slough social housing
More than 6,700 tenants currently renting their homes from Slough Borough Council look set to see a hefty increase in their weekly rent thanks to a rise imposed by the government.
The hike of 6.22 per cent will almost entirely go towards the government leaving the council and People 1st desperately short of cash for the many services it provides to residents.
Of the £26 million pounds that Slough council will collect this year, the government will get a third (£8.6m) back, meaning that tenants could be paying the government up to £25 a week.
At the same time, because of the way that the government calculates how much money it thinks Slough Borough Council, along with its Arms Length Management Organisation, People 1st, needs to provide housing services means funding will be cut by £800,000.
Both organisations will try to minimise the impact of these cuts on services to tenants and there will be no impact on the delivery of the decent homes work programme but it could mean that other, non essential work could be reduced, due to lack of funds.
Neil Aves, assistant director of housing for Slough Borough Council, said: “This has come as a real blow to the council and will affect many people and parts of the organisations.
“Which ever way we try to look at it, the cuts on services to tenants will have a major impact and I know many other local authorities are in a similar or worse position.
“For the 54 per cent of our tenants who receive housing benefit, their rent will continue to be covered so they will not feel the pain of having to pay more money, but others who may be on low incomes will. If the proposed increases do cause genuine hardship for tenants I would suggest that they contact the rent accounts team in People 1st before they get into difficulties and rent arrears.”
Sue Morris, Chair of People 1st (Slough), said: “The government have placed us in a very difficult position this time round and have only given us three weeks notice of the amount of money they will be taking from the council. Normally we are given several months to set the rents and balance the budgets but this year we have precious little time with which to plan our response.
“By not providing for inflation the real cost to the service is well over £1,000,000. The council and People 1st are trying everything they can to limit the impact for tenants but you can’t cut that kind of money and promise that tenants won’t notice.
“We are developing options which will propose a range of savings and will work with tenants to make sure our plans for improvements and excellent services are not derailed. However, we are likely to have to make hard decisions about the extent of some of our work, impacting on some ‘non-essential’ works such as decorating.”
Commissioner for Slough housing, Cllr Tony Haines, said: “Every year the government puts up the rent way above the rate of inflation but this time the hike is astronomical. Our rents are going to support housing services in other poor parts of the country while our own service is crippled.
“It’s another way of taxing tenants and will cause many service cuts and operational changes. Staff at People 1st (Slough) have done so well to get two stars, and the decent homes programme is rolling out across the borough so this news comes as a great slap in the face for them after all their hard work and efforts.
“Last year, £300,000 of savings was imposed resulting in cuts to services including garden maintenance for the elderly, vulnerable or disabled. Once again it could be those discretionary parts of the service which bear the brunt.”
Advice will be available at MyCouncil for any tenant who is worried about the rent rise. There will also be staff there who can advise on debt management.
Slough Borough Council