City has 500 'under-occupied' council homes
MORE than 500 council homes in Bristol are classed as "under-occupied".
This means that three and four-bed homes are occupied by only a few tenants instead of families, many of whom suffer chronic overcrowding.
Housing officers in Bristol are urging council tenants who no longer need a large home to downsize to help reduce the number of overcrowded households.
In the first five months of this year, a total of 62 households have downsized, the latest council figures show.
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But there were 49 severely overcrowded households on the housing register in July and 524 houses categorised as "under-occupied".
The scheme is part of a wider project to reduce overcrowding among council homes.
There are currently about 15,000 people on the council house waiting list.
Once a house falls empty, it is offered to the Homechoice Bristol waiting list with priority given to tenants who are overcrowded.
Once a family is re-housed, then their vacated property is advertised in the same way, creating a "chain let".
On average, a four-bed property that is freed up via the under-occupation scheme helps a total of three overcrowded families.
Lib Dem Cabinet Councillor Anthony Negus who is in charge of the council's housing department, said tenants were not being forced to move to smaller homes.
He said: "With thousands currently registered with Homechoice, the demand for social housing in Bristol is outstripping demand in a big way.
"We are now building the first council housing that has been directly funded by the local authority in 30 years.
"And we are also seeking to throw off the shackles on our ability to build that are currently imposed by limits to the number of new homes that can be funded through the Housing Revenue Account."
He said that the latest figures showed that under-occupation was a significant issue and in Bristol, as elsewhere, there was a particular demand for larger social housing.
He added: "One of the things we are doing is trying to persuade under-occupying tenants to help us make better use of our housing stock."
Mr Negus added: "This scheme is one of the various ways we are working to tackle the demand for housing in Bristol.
"Another is our hugely-successful No Use Empty, empty private homes project which brought more than 500 private homes back into use over 12 months. About 90 council house tenants have been helped to downsize, thanks to the scheme.
Comments
by busmyc
Friday, November 02 2012, 12:34AM
“So if the council have all these people waiting on the homechoice list, why have they taken a single mother with 1 young child and whose partner is in jail for drug dealing, and given her a large 3 bedroom flat in a victorian house in sneyd park.”
by dais9ma9ie
Thursday, September 27 2012, 4:28PM
“I totally agree with 'JoeKingswood'
I rent privately and it costs a lot of money. I know people in council houses who work and have 3 to 4 holidays abroad every year. I can't afford one holiday!”
by gary_hopkins
Thursday, September 27 2012, 2:55PM
“Thank you Lone Ranger that is hat I said.
The right to buy your council house was not Mrs'Ts idea but she massively expanded it.
If it had been used to allow a family to have the opportunity to look after their own housing and allowed money from the private sector to come into the system to build more social housing which might otherwise not be afforded it would have been a masterstroke.
Instead there was a distrust of council housing ,as there still is from many Tories,and the stock instead of being refreshed was reduced.Treasury rules insisted that the cash was used to pay down debt (not bad in itself) instead of being used to build more houses.
In terms of the elderly ocupying family council houses the best solution for many is extra care housing. Own front door and house/flat but care on hand should it be needed. Building more of these around the city is a key priority not least because they are much more popular than "care homes" for the majority.”
by midwife50
Thursday, September 27 2012, 2:26PM
“Many of these homes are occupied by elderly people, they might be happy to move but want to stay in the same area - makes sense if they have support and friends and family near by.
But the system do not allow that - so they could end up any where. Result they dont want to move”
by arealbristol
Thursday, September 27 2012, 1:47PM
“I tried registering for 'homechoice' once.
Basically, because I was single, employed and had no children it transpired that I actually had no choice
The website even stated that I was low priority and that my wait would probably be more than three years.
It grates that people who have never worked in their life and live off benefits and don't pay any tax are more entitled to housing than I am.”
by BrizBilly
Thursday, September 27 2012, 12:31PM
“Ok ... so everyone agrees selling of council houses was a bad idea... Why didnt the successive goverments stop it!”
by Lone_Ranger
Thursday, September 27 2012, 11:51AM
“J12345678 - I believe Cllr Hopkins meant he was an advisor to a Council when these sell-offs were going on in the Thatcher era, not currently.”
by J12345678
Thursday, September 27 2012, 11:25AM
“typo: so we CAN get a refund ..”
by J12345678
Thursday, September 27 2012, 11:25AM
“@Gary_Hopkins
As a BCC cabinet member how do you have time to advise another council and how much is your retainer?
I hope your hours and pay elsewhere are declared so that Bristol taxpayers can't get a refund on your local salary.
How many other councillors have nice little earners elsewhere?”
by lolly60
Wednesday, September 26 2012, 10:51AM
“@gary_hopkins
No it wasnt her but the Councils themselves that did that with the money from the sale of the houses, she set her Vision out for most people to own their own homes and it would have worked 100% if they had done what she wanted ,but No they are the ones that got it wrong.Greedy Coucillors again in office.”