Plans to increase council house rent by 6.2% may be halved after the government revealed they are going to cover costs by making extra funds available.
Sheffield Council had agreed to increase rent on average by £3.39 a week, the minimum increase rate that the government allowed under new proposals.
The change of heart by the government has been welcomed by councillors who had originally expressed concerns at the rate of increase especially as it was above national inflation.
The government however has not explained to the council where the money that would have come from the rent increase will now be coming from. If the council had chosen not to increase the rent this time then prices would have had to have gone up in the future or there would be insufficient funds for council services.
Councillor Bob McCann, Sheffield City Council’s cabinet member for housing and sustainable, Safer Communities said: “Obviously we are pleased with any cut in rent increases for our tenants, as the last thing we want is for them to have to pay such a huge increase, especially in the current economic climate.
“But we made it quite clear back in January that we did not want to set the increase so high but we were forced to put the rents up way above inflation or our services would have to be cut.”
Gavin Patterson
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment