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Council considering handing back homes leased from private landlords
An east London borough is considering handing back the properties it leases from private landlords for use as temporary accommodation.
Conservative-run Havering Council currently has 878 tenants in its private sector leasing (PSL) scheme.
The authority has come under fire after local press reports last week revealed tenants were being sent letters informing them that their homes were being handed back to their owners and subsequently told they would have to move to a cheaper area outside the borough within weeks.
It has since admitted that the policy was “not communicated clearly enough” and has promised to discuss housing options with those affected in face-to-face meetings while it reviews its PSL stock.
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Damian White, leader at Havering Council, told Inside Housing: “PSL has always been used as a means to provide temporary accommodation for individuals, people’s circumstances change, with rising local rent levels and decreasing of local benefit levels it means the gap between A and B is becoming even greater.
“Last year we spent £2m as a top-up from what we receive from housing benefit and what we claim from landlords.
“In an age of austerity it’s crucial that we make sure we provide effective accommodation within the resources that we have.
“But most importantly it is our duty as a local housing authority to put the tenant at the heart of everything that we do.”
Once affected households’ assessments are completed, the council may allow them to stay in their home, move them somewhere else or tell them to find their own alternative accommodation based on “individual circumstances”.
Some will be given help paying for a deposit and the first month’s rent on a new tenancy if they are no longer eligible to be housed by the council.
A two-bedroom house in Havering costs around £1,200 a month on average to rent, while the Local Housing Allowance rate is £756.
PSL schemes are widely used by local authorities as a more cost-effective form of housing homeless people than nightly-paid accommodation such as B&Bs.
In a statement posted on Havering Council’s website, Mr White said: “We are proud that we fulfil our duty to house families and individuals who qualify for our help, but private sector leasing costs the council millions each year.
“This is money we no longer have, so we have to find solutions that keep roofs over heads but are within our budget. Sadly for some people, it may mean a roof over their head in another area.
“We always try to house people in the borough or close by, but this is not always possible and cheaper rents in towns further away are sometimes our only option.”
