A housing cabinet member at a London council is calling on the government to give authorities the power to raise rents for existing social tenants. Conservative Philippa Roe, Westminster Council, said the power would enable the council to increase rent for more affluent households and use the extra cash to pay for more affordable housing. Ms Roe said: ‘There is currently no policy in place to increase rents. However, we believe the overall system should be changed and that councils should have greater freedoms to set rents, which are currently set by central government. At the moment we have a one-size fits all system which does not take into account any change in circumstances. In Westminster, we estimate that we have more than 2,200 households in social housing who are on over £50,000 a year, which is more than 95% of the working population earn.’ Read more on Inside Housing.
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