Conservatives demand faster re-letting of Council Houses

Cllr Darius Laws, (Rural North Ward) Chairman of the Council’s Scrutiny Panel expressed extreme concern at the time it is taking for the Lib-Dem controlled Council to re-let Council Houses.

The Scrutiny Panel reviews the targets and performance of the Council in all its key areas of service. The Panel discovered that the average time to re-let a Council House was 42 days, despite the Council having a target of no more than 28 days. 

He said: “In September the Council was providing 319 households with temporary accommodation in the city.  This may be families fleeing domestic violence, including children and other vulnerable people who suddenly find themselves homeless.

Children are living in this emergency accommodation yet there are Council houses which are empty and taking 42 days to turnaround.

I urge the  Council to strive for a much swifter turnaround times.  Not only will this provide better value for money to taxpayers, but also for the benefit of those whose circumstances cause them to be placed in temporary housing such as bed-and-breakfast’.

Cllr Laws stressed that the primary concern must be the welfare of human beings. but there is also a financial concern. “The cost of temporary accommodation in hotels and bed-and-breakfast is a burden on the taxpayer.

So on average, when a Council House is re-let we are losing 14 days more rent than anticipated, and losing 14 days of accommodation. Aggregated across the City’s council-house stock, a return to a 28 day target for re-letting would allow the Council to house several more needy families in proper fit-for-purpose accommodation.

 2023-12-12