TMO
Magazine, Summer 2008 |
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Press
release: 23rd June 2008 |
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Council Tenants Invoice Treasury for repayment of stolen rents
WHAT WHEN WHERE PHOTO OPPORTUNITY On Wednesday 25th June council tenants will take a giant invoice to Parliament, demanding repayment of £17,340 million of council tenants rent monies which government has used to pay for items to subsidise the treasury and general tax payer. Moonlight Robbery campaigners, say rents council tenants should be used, as most assume they are, exclusively for the management, maintenance and repairs to their homes, yet £1,400 million of it this year and £17,340 between 1997 and 2005 of their rents has not been used for these purposes. At the same time, there is a shortfall of £2,250, according to governments own figures in the funding required to properly manage, maintain and repair their homes. Since Labour came to power £2,850 million (2) of council tenants’ rents has found its way directly into treasury coffers. But this is the tip of the iceberg as Council tenants’ rents are also used to repay debt on capital investment in council housing. This is patently unfair, since when this capital asset is sold under the right to buy, again the majority of the money goes into the treasury. Two government reports show the level of shortfall in funding for management, maintenance and repairs to tenants homes. The first is from analysis the Building Research Establishment carried out in 2003. (3) If the figures in this analysis are updated there is a £1,300 million shortfall in allowances given to councils to manage and maintain council homes. The other report (4) produced in April 2008 shows an additional shortfall in funding for major repairs to tenants homes of £950 million a year. Meric Apak, (Chair of camden federation of tenants and residents associations) said “Government consistently refers to council housing as subsidised. Nothing could be further from the truth. We estimate that each council tenanted household is subsidising the general tax payer to the tune of around £13 a week, which the majority of tenants know nothing about. Like the 10p tax rate this government is taxing poor people more and more. Our rents should be used to properly maintain and repair out homes. And we want back what has been misappropriated from our rent payments since 1997.” Notes: 2) See answer to Parliamentary Question 131845 from Yvette Cooper to Anne Snelgrove 30th April 2007) 3) See “Estimation of the need to spend on maintenance and management in the Local Authority housing stock” by BRE Construction Division published by ODPM June 2003 4) See “Self-financing of local authority housing services: summary of findings of a modelling exercise” published by CLG March 2008. |
Submitted
to Inside Housing - May 2008 |
Let’s keep it simple, ‘It’s the robbery, stupid’ If the government allowed councils nationally to keep their tenants’ rents, the gaping shortfall in the finances needed for management, maintenance and long term repairs to council homes, now standing at £2,250 million, would be reduced by almost two thirds. The shortfall is almost three times the size of the Government’s widely publicised ‘Decent Homes’ programme. The most authoritative Government commissioned analysis of what management and maintenance (M&M) allowances should be was carried out by the Building Research Establishment – (www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing /estimation). Their findings show that M&M allowances are now about £1,300 million too low. Additionally, the results of the modelling of repair needs over 30 years in six localities published by CLG in March this year show that the Major Repairs Allowance (MRA) is 43% below the level needed (Inside Housing 14.03.08) – a further £950m a year. Despite this huge shortfall, the Treasury is making a profit on council housing. This profit breaks a promise made by an ex Housing Minister, Hilary Armstrong, (after tenants found out that the Treasury had its fingers in the ‘HRA till’ to fund housing benefit), that the Treasury would not ‘again’ divert tenants rents outside the national HRA. The £194 million surplus revealed in Inside Housing (10.01.08) is the tip of the iceberg; before taking into account the clearly unfair use of tenants rents to cover debt charges, when almost all of the capital receipts from the sale of council housing are never seen again so far as investment in council tenants’ homes are concerned. We call this ‘Moonlight Robbery’ because tenants’ rents (£1,400 million this year) are spirited away, under the cover of a mass of figures and much talk by Ministers about how terribly complicated HRA finances are. The scale of the robbery is now so audacious that more and more people are spotting it. It has spurred Winchester tenant, Alan Rickman, to take the Government to the European Court of Human Rights (Inside Housing 18.04.08) and indeed most of the recent debate in parliament on the Housing and Regeneration Bill focused on the injustice being done to council tenants. Faced with rumblings CLG announced a “Review”. Disappointingly it has been trying to focus discussion on side issues like the extent to which the HRA system should be nationally redistributive. Who does worst is not the key issue when everyone is being ripped off. Everyone working in social housing would I hope back the fairer funding objectives of the Moonlight Robbery campaign (www.moonlightrobbery.org.uk), supported by regional tenants’ organisations and TAROE. I trust that those working in social housing have the knowledge not be taken in by the Government’s alibi that it is all too complicated for them to understand what they were doing. To rephrase the statement on a well-known poster directed at USA election campaign workers in 1992 telling them to keep it simple, “It’s the robbery, stupid” Brian
Pordage (chair Moonlight Robbery Campaign) (“Estimation of the need to spend on maintenance and management in the Local Authority housing stock” by BRE Construction Division published by ODPM June 2003. and “Self-financing of local authority housing services: summary of findings of a modelling exercise” published by CLG March 2008.) |
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