‘A dispute has arisen between London councils and the Treasury over a planned £3,500 increase in rents paid by well-off tenants in social housing. Some 40,000 tenants pay subsidised rents despite having family incomes of over £50,000 a year, according to the Treasury. The Centre for London think tank estimated that councils and housing associations could build up to 3,500 extra social homes a year if allowed to reinvest the predicted £250m revenue. However, George Osborne is planning to keep the money as part of the £12bn he has found in welfare savings.
Source: Evening Standard‘
Say whaaaat? Back up a minute.. In some parts of the country, an annual income of £50,000 a year would keep a small family, an elderly dependant and their household pets very comfortably thank you very much. We’d love to know how the subsidy system has been working until now, to offer such a generous top up. A clap on the back for finding the saving George, but we gotta ask, how did it happen in the first place?… Sorry to say, but doesn’t it sound more like correcting a mistake than finding a saving?
