Evictions and Out-of-Area Rehousing of Council Tenants affected by Welfare Reform
Dear Dorset County 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,
Laura Crompton
We acknowledge receipt of your request for information. This will now be
passed to the relevant area(s) of the authority and we intend to respond
within 20 working days. If for any reason we cannot respond in full within
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[Dorset County Council request email] or the postal address below:
Freedom of Information Team
Dorset County Council
County Hall
Colliton Park
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1XJ
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Dear Ms Crompton,
Thank you for your email.
Dorset County Council is not responsible for housing (nor benefits or homelessness) in Dorset, as these are District/Borough Council functions. Therefore you would need to contact these Councils in order to gain this information. Please find attached an information request form containing the contact details of the FOI Teams at each of the Councils.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Team
Dorset County Council
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