Westminster to restrict lettings
A council has banned overcrowded families and those with serious medical conditions from bidding for new housing.
Westminster Council has closed its choice-based lettings bidding list until April 2011 to all groups except those living in temporary accommodation.
It said it had done so in order to meet central targets for rehousing people in temporary accommodation.
The list of those who cannot apply to move home include those on the statutory overcrowded waiting list and those with a category A medical condition.
One tenant in category A - which denotes tenants with a severe medical condition who are either housebound or whose life is at risk because of the state of their home - said she felt ‘trap-ped in unsuitable accommodation’, and would be seeking legal advice.
The council said its hands were tied, and that it must close the list if it had any hope of meeting a target set by the Communities and Local Government department to halve the number of households living in temporary accommodation by the end of the year.
Philippa Roe, cabinet member for housing at Westminster, said the target was frustrating because the definition of ‘temporary accommodation’ inclu-ded tenants living in the private rented sector.
Although the CLG target applies to all councils in England, Ms Roe said Westminster was particularly badly affected as it has a disproportionate number of households living in temporary accommodation. Currently, 2,041 households live in temporary accommodation in the borough. The target is to get this down to 1,574.
Ms Roe said: ‘It is an extremely unfortunate situation but we are forced to meet those targets and so we have had to close the lists.’
Abimbola Badejo, barrister at Arden Chambers, said the decision could be open to a legal challenge: ‘Even if they have put emergency measures in place, closing the list for a year could mean they are failing to give reasonable preference to the applicants falling into one or more of the statutory groups set out in the Housing Act 1996.’
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Readers' comments (5)
ancient Greek | 30/04/2010 1:55 pm
And all this in the richest borough of one of the richest Western societies - what hope for the rest of humanity?
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| 01/05/2010 2:59 am
Supply and Demand Ancient Greek. As one of the richest boroughs in one of the richest societies it is doubtless a target for the 3 million legal immigrants and 1 million illegal immigrants we have imported since '97 nearly all of which come here without any money. It is not in our national interest to attempt to feed and house foreign immigrants in our own back yard and it is not in Westminster's interest to build tens of thousands of council flats to house those who want to live there in State subsidised housing. Here's an idea. If you want to live in Westminster, go get a well paying job, or set up a successful company, make a ton of money and go buy a property there. Don't ask Westminster to give you a free flat.
Alternatively move to Liverpool, Hull or similar. A while ago you buy a whole street for 50p. Why do the freeloaders all expect a free pad in a fancy part of London? And why do the ones fortunate enough to have a council flat there breed so many kids that they become overcrowded? Ever heard of condoms? In any case why should their fecundity become Westminster's problem? It isn't and it shouldn't be.
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kjetilniki | 04/05/2010 11:39 am
is this lawful?
Have they consulted the secure tenants as required under s105 HA85 before making that decision?
-----------------------------------
105.
Consultation on matters of housing management.
— (1) A landlord authority shall maintain such arrangements as it considers appropriate to enable those of its secure tenants who are likely to be substantially affected by a matter of housing management to which this section applies—
(a) to be informed of the authority’s proposals in respect of the matter, and
(b) to make their views known to the authority within a specified period;
and the authority shall, before making any decision on the matter, consider any representations made to it in accordance with those arrangements.
.......
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Simon Castle | 06/05/2010 3:12 pm
Of course this really highlights the political incompetence of letting it get to this situation. how can Miss Roe keep her postiion if she does not have the skills to manage the issue?
The extremist right wing ideology of people like ILAG are the reason there is a problem - they are not part of the solution.You can't blame people for being poor and then wish them away.
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| 07/05/2010 2:03 pm
"You can't blame people for being poor and then wish them away"
No but I can blame the Labour government for importing 3 million cashless immigrants (and allowing in 1 million even more cashless illegal immigrants) and giving them priority for State subsidised housing in expensive areas on the basis of how many kids that they have bred and which they patently obviously cannot afford to feed without the UK taxpayer footing the bill. Needless to say Westminster Tories didn't create this situation; the now ex-Labour Government did. If calling a spade a spade is being "extremist" then so be it. Looks like the UK electorate tend to agree given the drubbing that the loony left LibDems and Labourites have just been given at the polls.
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