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Responses to Consultation on Tenancy Reform


The consultation 'Local Decisions' on tenancy reform closed on 17th January 2011. On this page are links to various tenant and other organisations who have objected to the proposals. If your organisation or council has objected to the proposals but isn't here, please let us know where to find it and we'll add it...

The government published its summary of responses on 28th February 2011.

TAROE
"the Government’s proposals...could result in generations of tenants facing insecurity and eviction if they are made law. We call for the Coalition Government to rethink these proposals."
South Yorkshire Network of Tenants and Residents
"Stable local communities are sustained by secure tenancies and people who live, care and look after their local areas. Without this security communities will become more transient and the onus on the individual to help improve their area will be removed."
London Tenants Federation
"The problems won't go away by giving short-term tenancies to people who can't afford to buy their own home. Many low income households would be condemned to a life of being constantly on the move."
Leeds Tenants Federation
"Leeds Tenants Federation has called on its city council to reject flexible tenancies and promote security of tenure to all its partner housing associations."
Camden Federation of TRAs
"Secure tenancies treat all tenants as equal. Flexible tenancies, varied according to the needs of the elderly, sick and unemployed, will further stigmatise and undermine our common standards."
Newcastle Tenants Federation
"Newcastle Tenants Federation is opposed to the proposed changes to security of tenure... The long-term implications to neighborhoods must be born in mind and especially in areas that may become unstable due to this policy...The policy removes individual tenants' 'choice'..."

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Defend Council Housing
"Council tenants know that council housing doesn't just belong to us, but to future generations as well. For the sake of our communities, our children and grandchildren, and because we know just how valuable a secure tenancy is, we believe these proposals should not be implemented."
Housing Emergency
"Housing Emergency believes that there is a risk that these policies will cause great hardship to tenants and create so called 'poverty traps'."
House of Commons Council Housing Group
"Decreasing security by turning council estates into transit camps is madness. Instead of introducing fixed-term tenancies, government needs to focus on solving the problem of supply."
Cambridge City Council
"Cambridge City Council, as a stock-retaining Local Authority, is opposed in principle to ending security of tenure and offering tenancies on a short-term basis."
Brighton and Hove Council
"“We are committed to no change to security of tenure or succession rights for our council tenants and we will not introduce flexible tenancies in the city."
Leeds City Council
"Leeds City Council has agreed not to implement flexible tenancies for council tenants. Speaking directly to Leeds Tenants Federation, the Executive Member for Housing said the council and its ALMOs would oppose any reduction of security for new tenants"
UNITE the union
"The Government's proposals are a serious threat to the viability of council housing and the important role it plays in developing and sustaining mixed communities."

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Shelter
"At a time when the housing safety net is needed more than ever, these reforms critically damage it by:
· Undermining the legal duty towards homeless people · Removing security in social housing (reducing incentives to work)
Shelter wants to see these proposals removed from the Bill entirely."
Chartered Institute of Housing
"We are loathe to see social housing becoming exclusively welfare provision, with eligibility policed and managed by housing staff...Tenancy reviews which determine whether someone keeps their home will be confrontational and not conducive to a positive landlord-tenant relationship"
London Civic Forum, London Voluntary Services Council, London Tenants Federation, London Federation of Housing Co-operatives, Camden Federation of Private Tenants, Just Space
"ultimately the introduction of flexible short-term tenancies will result in the promotion of higher levels of poverty and polarisation in London, and higher costs of housing benefit, health, social care and crime"
Kate Murray - briefing for Housing Quality Network
"It is difficult to see how this squares with the idea of creating mixed communities... The government’s proposals ...risk further stigmatising social housing, with an underlying message that it is essentially a tenure of last resort..."

Local Government Lawyer
"The absence of a consistent, justified and financially equitable approach to the allocation of housing and setting of rent levels to accommodate all types of need will inevitability result in unfairness and may jeopardise the existence of existing mixed communities."

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