Housing campaigner accuses council of ‘roping in tenants to collude in cutting services’ with online survey

Pat Turnbull (centre), pictured in 2017. Photograph: SBLC

Town Hall bosses are asking residents about housing priorities as the department prepares to shed £11m of its budget over the next four years.

The council wants to know what people value most in the 23,000 homes it looks after.

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, who has the housing services and resident participation portfolio, said: “We have now been left facing stark choices about how we deliver our housing services in the future – which will have major implications on the people living in our homes and on our estates.

“It may mean we are unable to carry out the improvements to estates to enhance people’s lives we had wanted to do, people may have to wait longer for things like replacement windows and kitchens, and day-to-day repairs may take longer to carry out than they do now.”

The council blames the budget cuts on a lack of government funding, including a seven per cent cap on rent increases, and a cost-of-living crisis that has seen the price of building materials jump.

Residents can allocate 100 points to their priorities in the council’s online survey and discover the potential impacts on other areas.

Categories include repairs, resident and building safety, capital works, tenancy services, complaints, and improving the service.

Residents must also judge the importance of more specific options, such as work to tackle mould and damp, or external repairs like fixing roof leaks and replacing windows, gutters and rainwater pipes.

Other areas include fire risk assessments and following the recommendations to ensure residents are safe. The voting tool said if this was downgraded, the council would “have to extend the period of time between risk assessments which can minimise our ability to proactively identify fire safety issues within common parts of blocks”.

Residents are also asked to rate other safety measures such as regular reviews of asbestos.

The simulator tells residents there is a risk of “potential non-compliance with regulations” if this work is downgraded.

The council also wants to know if people consider making homes more energy efficient a priority.

Respondents are told that the impact of not prioritising this could be “reduced thermal comfort, potential for increased condensation, increased energy and heating costs”.

Housing campaigner Pat Turnbull criticised the survey.

She said: “It is wrong of the council to try to rope in council tenants to collude in the cutting of their own services.

“Instead the council should be mobilising tenants to demand that the government funds the maintenance and refurbishment of council homes that have been neglected and underfunded for over 40 years by successive governments.

“There is plenty of money – only the government prioritises subsidising housing for sale.”

She added: “The seven per cent rent rise this year, while the council says it is not as big as the rate of inflation, is a lot more than most council tenants can afford.”

The survey runs until 25 August and the council is giving out three shopping vouchers to people who complete it.