Council housing is referred to by government and the media as ‘subsidised housing’ – leading most to assume that it subsidised by the general tax payer. In fact the tax payer is subsidised by council tenants.

Although council tenants are the poorest and most socially excluded members of society £1,400 million this year; £17,340 million between 1997 and 2005 and an estimated sum of more than £19,000 million to date has been taken by government from tenants rent payments.

Most council tenants don’t even realise that we are paying what is effectively a hidden tax. We pay our rents and assume that our councils or their managing agents spend that money on repairing, managing and maintaining our homes.

Not quite the case.

Through the national housing finance system, the amount of money each council needs to repair, manage and maintain their homes is assessed by central government. Government then determines how much money each council is allocated to cover these costs from council tenants rent payments.

This is where the misappropriation of our rent monies occurs.

Government insists that council tenants pay debt repayment on loans taken out to build and improve council housing (capital costs). As tenants, we don’t own homes; we make no profit on any increases in property values and when council homes are sold the vast majority of the proceeds go straight into the treasury. It is clear then that is should be the treasury, not tenants, who foot this bill.

On top of this, government makes a direct profit on our rents and puts it straight into the treasury to spend on what ever government chooses (e.g. MP’s enormous expenses). It took £194 million this year and £2850 between 1997 and 2005.

Moonlight Robbery campaigners refer to this as ‘barefaced robbery’. It has led Winchester council tenant, Alan Rickman to challenge the government about this in the European Court of Human Rights.

As a result of government dipping its fingers into tenants rent payments, the amount of money left for management, maintenance and repairs to tenants’ homes across the country falls short by a considerable sum of money.

The most authoritative Government commissioned analysis of the levels of funding needed to manage, maintain and pay for day to day repairs to council homes was carried out in 2003 by the Building Research Establishment. When updated the figures shows a £1,300 million gap between the amounts required and the amounts of our rent payments actually allocated for these purposes.

Additionally there is a shortfall in funding allowed for Major Repairs, a study 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.

In summary

What can you do to help

The simply truth is that tenants are paying for something that the tax payer should pay for through the treasury and as a result council tenants homes are being kept at a poorer standard than they should be. It also means that governments much heralded ‘decent homes programme’ will be very short lived in terms of impact.

Government is currently carrying out a review of the national housing finance system – ‘The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Review’. It provides a good opportunity to expose the robbery of council tenants’, their subsidising of the general tax payer and the resultant under-funding of running costs to council tenants’ homes.

Moonlight Robbery Campaigns demands that council tenants’ rents be used exclusively for the management, maintenance and repair to council homes.
We want the money stolen since this government has been in power returned and invested in council homes.

The most important thing is to ensure that as many tenants as possible know about Moonlight Robbery – through distributing information to them and by getting local press coverage. All this puts pressure on politicians who have the power to make the required changes.

Below is a list of suggestions of how you can help to stop the robbery. Any help you can give to the campaign, small or large, will help. Please email us to let us know what you have done.

• Download a copy of the ‘Moonlight Robbery Briefing’ from this website, photocopy it and distribute it on your estate or in your neighbourhood.

• Get ‘Moonlight Robbery’ on the agenda for meetings on your estate or in your locality.

• Get your tenants association or federation to sign up on our website to support the campaign

• Down load a copy of the ‘Moonlight Robbery Invoice’ detailing the amount of money robbed from tenants nationally between 1997 and 2005. Get your Tenants Association or Federation to sign the invoice and send it to 10 Downing Street.

• Ask your tenants federation to send a copy of the Moonlight Robbery ‘open letter’ to councillors and MPs. Ask them to send a copy of the letter to your local newspaper’s letters page.

• If your councillors say they support the aims of this campaign, ask them to publicise moonlight robbery in council magazines and on their website. Ask them to donate money to the Moonlight Robbery Campaign to help us distribute information to tenants.

• If your MP says they support the aims of this campaign, get them to sign Early Day Motion 1459 – Management and Maintenance of Council Housing.

• Write a letter to your local newspaper about the robbery

____________________________________________________________

File Downloads:

Moonlight Robbery - Briefing

Moonlight Robbery - Support Letter

Moonlight Robbery - Invoice Template (editable)