Letter to Cllr Alan Boad | Lack of Affordable Rented Housing in Warwick District

Dear Mr Boad,

I am writing to you as I have been told you are the portfolio holder for Housing. As such I would like to know what you are doing about the desperate housing need in Warwick District.

People like my friend and I who have paid our taxes to WDC for many years, are becoming very frustrated with the lack of affordable rented housing in Warwick and Leamington. We are forced to rent from private landlords who are greedy and extort our hard earned cash from us, when we cannot afford to buy our own homes in the area.

I believe your housing policy allows for people with financial problems to register to be on the housing list, but the council officers tell us that unless you live in shared accommodation which is unsuitable or happen to procreate that you stand no chance of getting accepted on the housing waiting list.

As a tax payer in WDC I request and demand that elected officials do something about this failing. All people want is an affordable house to live in, not to be exploited by private landlords and have the uncertainty of having their home taken away from them, or to be used as a convenient resource.

Surely it is not unreasonable to do the following:

1. Re-write the eligibility criteria to include financial hardship and debt as a main points score;
2. To be proactive and have more affordable rented housing built as part of the planning process. There is not enough housing, but I constantly see new builds everywhere in this district claiming "luxury" or "exclusive" housing. Indeed, every piece of spare land is apartments....where are the affordable rented ones with a social landlands? This is simply not good enough. If developers want to build, then they should also build more affordable housing or planning permission should not be granted.

While many elected officials sit comfortably on their allowances, many of us have to struggle to make ends meet after extortionate rents and fees are taken from us. This is before the council tax which increases every year.

What is WDC intending to do about this situation? People are getting fed up!

Yours angry and frustrated with the council's housing policy.

Paul Bell