Sutton's Tenants Losing Out

10.40.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 26th Sep 2007

Subsidies provided by Sutton's tenants to other parts of the country, national and local housing policy were up for debate at the SFTRA (Sutton Federation of Tenant & Resident Associations) AGM chaired by Jean Crossby held in the Sutton Housing Partnership offices on Tuesday evening.

Peter Dolan, the Chief Executive of SHP and Tom Brake MP, the Liberal Democrats' Local Government Spokesman were the keynote speakers. They were quizzed about matters ranging from the measures needed to reduce water consumption to whether the Right to Buy should be scrapped.

After the event, Tom Brake said, "Sutton's tenants find it very hard to understand why they are subsiding tenants from other parts of the country. This has got to change. I will be taking this up with Yvette Cooper, the Housing Minister."

In his presentation Tom Brake also set out some of the key housing statistics; 1.6 million people are on the waiting list for an affordable property, 94,000 are officially homeless, 220,000 new households are being created each year, 230,000 homes are second homes, property prices in the last ten years have gone up by 150% and incomes only by 40%.

ENDS