Evictions and Out-of-Area Rehousing of Council Tenants affected by Welfare Reform
Dear Gwynedd Council,
I am seeking information about the potential impact of central government welfare reform policies on eviction rates and geographical displacement of households with council housing tenancies. My information request relates to three welfare reform policies:
- Under-Occupancy (also known as Removal of Spare Room Subsidy / Bedroom Tax)
- The Benefit Cap
- Universal Credit roll-out
I understand that under Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 there is a duty to assist and advise the requester. I would appreciate your advice if you think my request needs any clarification in order to get the information that I am looking for, or if it would exceed the cost limit in its present form.
1. Please provide an annual breakdown since April 2010 of the total number of unique council tenancies - including the total number of people recorded as living in them - that have been evicted due to the non-payment of rent arrears.
2. For each year of this annual breakdown since April 2013, please disclose how many of these evicted households - including the total number of people recorded as living in them - had at some point been affected by:
a. Under-occupancy
b. Under-occupancy and the Benefit Cap
c. Under-occupancy and the Benefit Cap and Universal Credit roll-out
3. How many of the evicted households affected by a, b, or c - including the total number of people recorded as living in them - went on to make a successful homelessness application to the local authority?
4. Of these successful homeless applications, please disclose how many households - including the total number of people recorded as living in them - were placed in temporary accommodation in a different local authority area and disclose the destination local authority area in each case.
Yours faithfully,
Claire
Dear Claire,
Freedom of Information (ref T746)
Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Your request has been passed to me to process and I can confirm that it has been logged under the reference number T746.
The Council may take up to 20 working days, from the date of receipt, to respond to your request. You should therefore receive the information you have requested, subject to the application of any exemptions permitted under the Act, by 20/02/2018 .
If you require further information please contact me by phone on 01286 679809 or by emailing [Gwynedd Council request email] by quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely,
Gwawr Owen
Dear Claire,
Freedom of Information (ref T746)
Thank you for your recent request. Please see below for the information requested:
Gwynedd Council no longer have Council Housing stock. The stock was transferred out to a newly formed Housing Association in 2010.
Please note that where information is subject to copyright belonging to the Council, you will need to obtain the permission of the Council to re-use it for purposes other than private study or non-commercial research. The Council may charge for re-use. Where third party copyright material is disclosed, you must obtain permission to re-use from the copyright holders concerned.
Complaints
If you are unhappy with the way the Council has handled your request, you may ask for an internal review. Please contact me if you require an internal review of your case. An internal review will be conducted by the Monitoring Officer or Head of Service and we will aim to respond within 20 working days. However, if we are unable to complete the review by this date, we will advise you accordingly.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Please see below for the contact details:
Information Commissioner’s Office
2nd Floor
Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF102HH
Telephone: 02920 678400
Email: [email address]
Fax: 02920 678399
Yours sincerely,
Gwawr Owen
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