Downsize your home, tenants with spare rooms told

Rotherham Borough Council—which is still urging more to join the relocation list—this week insisted that the number “downsizing” will rise sharply in the coming months.

The drive to reduce under-occupation is aimed at making more efficient use of the social housing stock, to ease overcrowding and homelessness elsewhere.

“We hope this will be a real win-win situation,” said Cllr Jahangir Akhtar, Cabinet member for housing and neighbourhoods.

“Hopefully, more families will get the space they need while their children are growing up and those that are past this stage of their lives will get the benefits of living in a smaller property, if that is right for them.

“Before, part of this policy would mean we could only offer families with grown-up children one place.

“Now, for example, if a father and son who live together are looking to downsize, we can offer two one-bedroom flats.”

Is it right to ask tenants with spare rooms to downsize into a smaller home? Vote in our poll.

There are currently 5,025 under-occupied three-bedroom and 142 four-bedroom homes. More than half of householders in these have already requested a smaller property.

The revised allocation policy offers priority status to those indicating a wish to downsize—and cash incentives of up to £1,500 could even be considered when the policy is reviewed in 12 months.

Cllr Akhtar said that many more householders would be successfully transferred to smaller properties this year, despite the current rate of less than two per month.

“The first stage was to identify if there was under-occupation, which there clearly is,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have enough two-bedroom properties, not as many as we would like.

“One of the critical things we must do is increase the supply of smaller properties.

“We will do this through our existing plans to build new council houses, we will make sure it is a key strand issue within our new housing strategy.

If the Government announces any new opportunities to build council houses, we will want to bid again to build more properties.”

He added: “Some people don’t even know that they can ask to be downsized.

“We want to show that was can assist in many ways, but we are not going to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to.

“We are very conscious of the fact that many people have lived in these properties for some years.

“They will be part of the community and we understand when people are reluctant to move.”

About £9 million has been budgeted for 77 new council houses in Thrybergh, Maltby and West Melton.

The scheme came under fire from Tory councillor Tony Mannion at this month’s council meeting.

He said: “With the current economic downturn and shocking record of council housing costing an arm and a leg, is this the right time to build more?

“I think we could have built people eight-bedroom detached homes with the burden that they end up being to the people.”