Housing association offers tenants up to £10,000 for spare rooms

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

A housing association is offering tenants up to £10,000 to downsize ahead of new rules which come in next April penalising social tenants with spare bedrooms.

Viridian Housing, which manages 17,000 homes across the Midlands, West Sussex and London, said the scheme had been developed to manage the impact of the Government's planned welfare reforms.

Some 660,000 tenants are set to be hit by housing benefit cuts from next April as a result of the under-occupation rules, with losses averaging £14 a week.

Under Viridian's scheme, tenants under-occupying by one bedroom will be offered £4,000 to move; with those releasing two and three bedrooms or more offered up to £7,000 and £10,000 respectively.

It's also offering £4,000 to under-occupied residents who swap their home with another Viridian resident living in an overcrowded property.

Joseph Brimpong, lettings manager at Viridian Housing Association, said: “The new benefits cuts will affect many of our residents especially those who are living in under-occupied homes. This incentives scheme has been developed to benefit our residents and help them move into a smaller home. We are continuously working with our residents to find homes that meet their needs.

"These incentives are being offered to encourage residents that will be affected by the cuts to move, and also give them some financial help to make improvements to their new homes."