ONCHAN Commissioners has launched a petition to ‘keep housing local’.
Ratepayers in the local authority received a letter urging them to sign the petition at the same time as they received their rate demand.
This month Social Care Minister Chris Robertshaw MHK – in charge of rent for local authority homes – has twice overruled the commissioners, who wanted a rent cap for their tenants.
The letter states that continuing to provide affordable housing within the community on a regional level will allow the local authority to ‘preserve and protect the local identity and communities with individual identities; the knowledge of its local communities and environment; the housing needs of the coming generations; the housing needs of an increasing ageing population’.
It continues: ‘A strong local base will enable housing authorities to adapt and become completely self-financing.’
Onchan Commissioners believe this has a number of advantages. The letter states that it would allow the authority ‘to set our own rent levels that will be acceptable to our local communities’.
And it would ‘lift the restriction on money that is spent on maintenance and improvements’.
It would allow Onchan Commissioners to continue to buy land and buildings for affordable housing. And it would ‘allow us to construct housing taking into account the demands for size and affordability’.
The letter continues: ‘It is important to continue to develop a solid and sustainable community by using properly resourced local housing.’
Earlier this month, Mr Robertshaw MHK had told the board they could not cap the rent increase at 15 per cent despite its concerns about affordability.
Authority chairman Robin Turton said: ‘Onchan does not need to collect such an increase.
‘We should not be implementing a rental system that seeks to make a profit out of social housing,’ he said.
It led chief executive Malcolm Hulme to write to the minister again explaining, in detail, the reasons behind the commissioners’ resolution to determine an equitable and fair rent for our public sector tenants.
But in Tynwald on Tuesday, Mr Robertshaw again rejected the board’s call, saying a blanket cap for Onchan tenants would be ‘inequitable’. The DSC has said the updated points system, in place from this month, provided a fair and equitable means of charging rent for all public sector properties, regardless of the location.
The revised system updates the rent calculation system which has remained largely unchanged for more than 20 years and did not take account of new build properties, improved modern designs, layout, thermal efficiency and the modern amenities now provided in most public sector homes.
The petitions are available to sign at Onchan Library, and at Onchan Commissioners’ Office.
