Labour Agrees £10 a Week Extra Rent Rise for All Lambeth Tenants
Labour Lambeth is increasing tenants rents by £5 a week in December and a further £5 a week in April 2009—this was agreed at a Labour Group meeting on Thursday night attended by only 17 councillors. Only Cllr Kingsley Abrams voted against, but two left before the vote. The increases will hit at least 20,000 households throughout the borough which is one of the UK’s biggest social landlords.
Labour councillors heard a Gordon Brown type crisis lecture from Finance Portfolio holder Cllr Jim Dickson saying this was the “only option” to close the looming gap on the Housing Revenue Account. The rent rise alone is slated to bring in £10 million. The original estimate of a £14.5 million overspend due to temporary accommodation overspending is now thought to be more like £20-22 million, according to insiders among the Lambeth officer corps.
However, this is not the end of the pain for Lambeth residents. On October 1st the Council was unable to pay any Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) Allowances because of “severe financial pressures”. It seems that a reduced payment will be made on Monday October 6th but that TMO allowances will now be cut by £6.5 million over the next 18 months.
Conservative Leader Cllr John Whelan says: “Some of the TMOs are already in dire financial straits and these pressures could amount to a further gap of £12-14 million over the next two years. For example, Loughborough TMO with just 2,000 has a deficit of £2 million—that is a truly amazing figure when you work it out per property.”
Furthermore, council sources say Labour is putting through a cost cutting package in Housing including 15-19 middle manager redundancies aimed at saving £5.5 million which involves eliminated concierge posts and reducing energy bills—including switching off lights in the day.
Cllr Whelan adds: “It goes almost without saying that this is a defining moment for Labour and could literally be their “Bradford and Bingley moment” as I doubt if any measures they take will magic away their problem. With people literally approaching me on the street this saying “when is Labour going” I think it’s time for us to take the message to people that Labour is finished in Lambeth as well as Whitehall.”
