Thanks to COVID-19, your hours of work have been reduced and you’ve had to apply for emergency financial assistance to help make ends meet. You’ve been on a waiting list for social housing for years and your name has finally come up. Doesn’t this sound like an answer to a prayer?
If you’re in Greenwich, someone hasn’t been listening to the prayers. The local council’s housing program is running a deficit. To fix it, the council (aka the Royal Borough of Greenwich) decided to jack the rents for all new tenants.
Whatever happened to the idea that social housing is affordable? Isn’t this illegal? Well, no. Local governments in England are allowed to raise social housing rents to be closer to rents in the private sector. Read more in Greenwich Conservatives: Council uses loophole to push up rents for new tenants
This decision will surely work against the financial stability of new tenants. It is an example of local council decision making that has been going on across England.
Greenwich, along with all local councils, have recently been given new local powers. The idea is that councils should be free to taylor local programs and services to meet local needs. But at the same time, Councils cannot run a deficit and the funding they receive from the national government has been cut significantly. For people who are vulnerable, including people experiencing homelessness, local powers means a patchwork of service provision. It has also translated to less access to programs and services. For a look at the broader impacts of local decision making, for people who are vulnerable try: Homelessness In England: How Councils And Localism Make It Grow
