Mother offered 'affordable' home at double rent
Thursday, 26 January 2012 11:26 AM
A mother faces paying double the rent for the same size housing association home in the same village as a result of changes in the way the government funds affordable housing.
District nurse Jill Coleman was on the waiting list for a social home in St Agnes, Cornwall for 12 years before being offered a new two-bedroom house by Ocean Housing on a rent of £500 per month. Her son lives yards away in a two-bedroom Ocean Housing home on a rent of £289 per month.
Mrs Coleman told the West Briton newspaper that she could not afford to move from her current home in nearby Porthtowan.
She said: "It's ridiculous. My son is in the same sized house owned by Ocean Housing but I would be paying almost double his rent. It means I can't afford to downsize to a smaller house in St Agnes and will be stuck in a house too big for my needs."
The bizarre situation is the result of a new scheme called Affordable Rent. After cutting social housing funding, the government wants housing associations to build new homes at up to 80 per cent of market rents and costs in high-rent areas are soaring.
Cornwall Council's cabinet member for housing Mark Kaczmarek said: "It's a pig's ear of a housing system. As well as rising rents we will also be selling off more houses than we can build."
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