Council offering £25k payout to tenants who downsize homes

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Finance, Local Government

Camden Council is offering up to £25,000 for tenants to downsize to smaller homes - in an effort to house larger families desperate for accommodation, and to mitigate the impact of the bedroom tax in April 2013.

The offer - which will run till March 2013 - will see tenants who give up a four-bed home receive a £15,000 payout, a five-bed home £20,000, and a six-bed home £25,000.

Over 5,000 overcrowded households in the London borough have applied for council housing, 798 of which are waiting for a home with five or more bedrooms. However, only one in five of Camden's 1,380 four or more bedroom council homes became available for let last year.

Studies have shown that children in overcrowded homes face a 25% increase in risk of ill health and disability and are likely to have lower educational achievement.

From next April, social tenants with one spare bedroom will have their housing benefit reduced by 15%, whilst those with two or more spare will face a 25% cut. This will work out as a £21 or £36 per week shortfall in a four-bedroom Camden tenancy.

The Leader of Camden Council, Councillor Sarah Hayward, said: “Overcrowded living conditions often result in poor health and educational problems for children.  Under-occupation of our council-owned homes is a real issue and I’m aware that it’s a sensitive subject for tenants who have lived in a home all their lives and may not be keen to move.  

“Some of our tenants have been waiting for many years in overcrowded conditions for a move to a larger home.  

“In the last year only one tenant chose to downsize their five-bed home, but we hope that our pilot scheme offering realistic cash and other incentives will now encourage more tenants to choose to do so.”

Camden Council’s cabinet member for housing, Councillor Julian Fulbrook, added: “We estimate that over 5,000 families in Camden are overcrowded and that 60% of our council tenants in larger homes are under-occupiers. We hope that our offer will encourage some of these tenants to think about moving.”