Evictions and Out-of-Area Rehousing of Council Tenants affected by Welfare Reform
Dear Christchurch Borough 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,
Sophie Carr
Thank you for contacting Christchurch & East Dorset Councils.
Please accept this email as acknowledgement of your request under the
Freedom of Information Act. We are currently dealing with your request,
and will be in contact again soon.
In most cases we will reply within 20 working days. If, for any reason,
this is not possible we will let you know.
If you have any complaints in respect of your information request, you can
make a complaint online at: [1]www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/comments. The
website also explains how we will treat your complaint. If your complaint
is not resolved to your complete satisfaction, you have the right to apply
to the Information Commissioner for a decision. ico.org.uk provides
further information.
Dear Sophie
Information Request
Thank you for your information request. We are unable to respond to the
questions, as we do not own any housing stock. Therefore we do not have
records of evictions and what they may be due to. I have attached a list
of housing providers in the area.
With regards to the question on homelessness, we would need to know the
names of those evicted by the housing providers, to then look if they made
a successful homeless application. However, even if we had the names
provided, our data retention policy means that cases that have been
accepted as homeless and discharged, will be deleted after 2 years.
I hope this satisfies your request but if you have any complaints in
respect of your information request, you can make a complaint online at:
www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/comments. The website also explains how we will
treat your complaint. If your complaint is not resolved to your complete
satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a decision. ico.org.uk provides further information.
Kind Regards
Freedom of Information Officer
Christchurch and East Dorset Councils
Email: [email address]
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now