Councillor Accused of Distorting Housing Data

A councillor has been accused of distorting data as part of her call for councils to be given the power to raise rents for existing social housing tenants. Philippa Roe, cabinet member for strategic finance at Westminster Council, wants local authorities to be given more freedom to set rent levels. This, she argues, would allow councils to obtain more income from more affluent social housing tenants to fund more affordable housing. She has cited the authority’s housing survey needs data showing that 2,237 social housing tenants in Westminster earn more than £50,000 a year. But Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the council’s opposition Labour group, pointed out that only 406 of the tenants earning more than £50,000 are council tenants. The remaining 1,831 are housing association tenants, whose rents are not set by the council. Read more on Inside Housing.