Council reveals that more than 40% of its tenants are in rent arrears, with combined debt nearly £1.8m

Housing chiefs at City of York Council have said that tenant arrears have “skyrocketed” to nearly £1.8m due to austerity, Covid and soaring prices.

A meeting of the council’s housing and community safety policy and scrutiny committee on 7 December was told that more than 40% of council tenants in York are in arrears with their rent. However the Head of Housing services, Denis Southall said evictions were “always the last resort” for the authority.

Councillors heard that there are only four people this year who have been evicted through non-payment of rent, but that there are 532 in the 'legal process' relating to arrears. Mr Southall noted however that this figure includes cases “stretching back over a long period”.

The meeting also heard that it is not a councillor’s decision to evict somebody, but rather county court judges, who are “very reluctant - in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and on the back of the last 10 or 12 years - to evict people, particularly where they have vulnerabilities," Mr Southall said.

He noted that a "holistic approach" is taken, which looks at the whole family situation. For instance, if a young carer was living at the property, “this would be taken into account”, the meeting heard.

When asked by Cllr Fiona Fitzpatrick what the responsibility of the local authority is to someone who has been evicted, Mr Southall said: "Generally someone will be given relief duty under the Homelessness reduction Act so they would be provided with temporary accommodation while their case was fully investigated".

However, he stressed beforehand that he would like to see “all the emphasis on prevention” before a case reaches eviction.

The meeting was also told there are issues relating to the council's finances. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the authority's housing revenue account (HRA) - its spending and income relating to the management and maintenance of council-owned housing stock - is forecast to be £2.3m in deficit.

Lottie Winson