HOUSING COMMITTEE

Agenda Item 36(c) Brighton & Hove City Council

Subject:                                  Deputations  

Date of Meeting:                  17 November 2021

Report of:                               Executive Lead Officer for Strategy, Governance & Law

Contact Officer: Name:      Shaun Hughes                             Tel: 01273 293059

                                                  E-mail: shaun.hughes@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Wards Affected:                    All           

DEPUTATIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC

Notification of one Deputation has been received. The spokesperson is

entitled to speak for 5 minutes.

(1)  Urgent Rent Review

Spokesperson: Jim Deans

Supported by:

J. Deans
C. Harrison
D. Croydon
B. Hughes
D. Thomas
J. Pawluk

Topic: Urgent Rent Review

Presenters: Jim Deans

DEPUTATION: URGENT RENT REVIEW

With property rental costs soaring and rapidly growing Councils are forced to spend millions with private landlords to accommodate the growing population, Millions of people trapped in emergency and temporary accommodation this is set to hit 2 million people by 2030 if we do not act.

Malnutrition, Drink and Drug abuse, domestic abuse and Violence, Child Poverty, and plain old trapped in debt these are all part of the same crisis. Council setting its own rents at Local Housing Allowance or near trap people in debt, it makes the transition from unemployment to work very difficult, people with disabilities have no option but to live their lives on benefits trapped by the high rents. 

The Kerslake Commission report spells out the implications of privatisation, we are having to buy back previously sold council homes which were sold at a great loss (I have an example of a flat sold under the RTB for £15k and recently bought back for £250k). Under the RTB we still lose a social rent home and the people living there could either be students exploited, we have a lot of families living in overcrowded positions, essentially hidden homeless, living from one room. Because the standards in private sector housing is worse than the overcrowding. Include those stuck in high rents and benefit capped. Genuine working families are left with £70 to live off each month or a single working woman only £10 better off while working a 40 hour week due to high rents, 3rd child rule drives families and single parents further into debt. We are exploiting the most vulnerable when the system needs to be fairer to keep children above the poverty line,

There needs to be fairness in council rents, some people have rents set at Social Level yet are high earners. Some council homes have multiple people in the home working yet still paying one social rent, meanwhile some people are on minimum wage but paying Local Housing Allowance level of rent leaving them trapped in debt or having to use Discretionary Funds or Universal credit to live, they are trapped.

We need a rent review of the Council Owned and managed and even Council Owned but leased out to Private Landlords or Trusts/Charities. A fairness Rent Policy and Scale to match people’s earnings.

We the signed hereby formally request an Urgent Rent review we would also like transparency and a community involvement in this review.