A recent freedom of information request on unnecessary losses by Northumberland Council Housing as it fails the public in supporting those in need of housing shows the Tories who run the Council undying support for ‘fatcat’ private landlords.
Northumberland Tories: leak half a million pounds a year of tenants cash from their housing revenue account.
The latest freedom of information request was not fully answered by the Council as information given only related to council housing in South-east Northumberland and did not include the figures for Alnwick, Rothbury or the Rural coalfield and Amble so the losses of council tenants cash may be even higher than that published.
The repair and relet times for Council Housing in South-east Northumberland has tumbled from an impressive 12 days under the last Labour administration 2013-2017 down to a miserable, for those on the homefinder list to a minimum of 12 weeks and many for more than six months.
Currently awaiting repair and relet, the Council has admitted to 220 unused homes in Blyth, 54 in Cramlington and 36 in Seaton Valley. At these rates they are certainly not managing the ring fenced Housing Revenue Account on behalf of tenants correctly as the law prescribes and we believe questions have been asked by tenants groups directed towards the housing ombudsman as social media accounts have been rife with accusations.
Northumberland County Council has also decided to tighten criteria to slash its social housing waiting list by 40%.
Northumberland County Council is proposing to remove thousands of applicants from its social housing waiting list by tightening eligibility criteria. This includes people in category three who they say are ‘adequately housed’ a sweeping statement without a full background check and a visit to applicants to check conditions and under the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act, applicants financial position and need as affordability is a measure within the act.
Local MP Ian Lavery for Blyth and Ashington labelled the move as a disgrace in the house of commons recently as an estimated 9000 applicants were written off in Northumberland Conservatives dash to fully support the steadily rising incomes of Northumberland’s private landlords, many of whom are absentees living in areas of much higher average incomes than Northumberland who buy homes cheaply and let them to desperate families for big city rents forcing ever more families and children to live in poverty relying on food banks and community pantries to manage to eat.
But much of this massive problem was avoidable:
During 2014 the Council profiled its workforce and needs for the future. That needs survey included a huge number of craft apprentices who were required to replace the aging workforces of both the Council to repair its public buildings and housing stock and its regeneration company ARCH who also ran a housing revenue account on behalf of tenants living in the Hirst area of Ashington.
Since 2017 that needs survey has been overlooked as the Council drifted from being a Best Value local authority into one which has devalued its links with the people it's meant to serve.
For example, under the Local Government and Housing Act to qualify for social/council housing, you generally need to demonstrate a low income, a housing need like overcrowding, unsuitable accommodation due to medical reasons, or homelessness, a local connection to the area, and be eligible under immigration laws; Therefore if following the legal procedure have Conservatives Northumberland in their decision making broken the law or are they hiding behind the 2011 localism act ?.
If they are, then the Council need a survey of absentee private landlords along with a discouragement program and those who have taken ex-social housing out of use for long term rent and are letting them for short term breaks need to be encouraged to change their ways.
Their excuses for change within their cabinet report state:
To free up council staff to work on cases where people have a more urgent need.
To address tenancy fraud that deprives families and vulnerable people of a home.
To ensure that applicants have a stronger local connection to Northumberland.
It has to be asked, if those are the excuses for writing off thousands of needy applicants and leaving homes out of commission for months then the lack of supervision within the Council is dire and has not been steered by Deloittes BEST results to this Council at all?
Its housing criteria has become a postcode lottery and it has become obvious that the Council has undertaken a Pontius Pilate hand washing exercise to try to cleanse out the poor and needy from its thoughts and future plans. Instead of investing in recruitment and retention of good additional staff who can deliver the needs of the Counties residents they have given up altogether.
