Rent rises at Pendleton tower blocks in Salford will force people to turn to crime or money lenders, one resident has said. This comes after Salford City Council’s cabinet approved the plans to increase their rent by 4.1 per cent despite strong objection by tenants who are already facing hardship.
The tower blocks’ social housing tenants have suffered freezing conditions since flammable cladding came off their blocks. All nine apartment blocks finally had their flammable cladding removed by the end of 2020 in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in London and the wait goes on for the cladding to be replaced.
The housing association has offered financial help for heating bills, but back in February some said their energy costs were up to 10 times higher.
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One resident, Graeme Langton, who was outraged at the decision, said: “This decision was fixed before we came here today. They say they have the rest of Salford to think about but they don’t have to live in these conditions like us.
“The cost of bills is so high for everyone. People will have to turn to moneylenders, crime, or maybe prostitution.”
Council bosses explained that the cost increase of the contract they have has gone up by 8.3 per cent for them and rent rises are something happening across the country. Chief executive of the council Tom Stannard confirmed to the cabinet that if they did not take action now they would be looking at a 15 per cent increase next year and a £5.2 million deficit in the council budget.
Councillor Robin Garrido, leader of the Conservative opposition, was in attendance at the meeting to represent the residents of the Pendleton Together tower blocks. He said: “I don’t want to go through all of the issues but there is the cladding, asbestos, and water leaks still to be dealt with.
“Some of these are simple things to address that haven’t been addressed. This just isn’t the right time to burden the residents with rent rises when they are suffering a poor quality of life.
“A lot of stake has been put into this Hardship Fund but it is not the extra payment coming out of that but the extra money from rent. You are giving with one hand and taking with the other - it really is not fair.”
The Hardship Fund eligibility criteria has been extended to provide assistance with the payment of fuel bills capped at a maximum of £226 per household - which councillor John Merry suggested should be monitored in case people need more financial help.
All the cabinet members expressed their sympathy for the situation to the tenants in attendance at the meeting on May 24, and explained that this decision “has not been taken lightly” and they do not want to “kick the can down the road” to where even steeper rises could happen if they did not take action today - according to their estimations. The Hardship Fund is now available to all residents, not just those on housing benefit and Universal Credit and additional funding has been made available to fund a support post for a two-year term to provide one-to-one advice.
The cabinet approved the rent increase with reluctance. There was a promise made at cabinet to assess the heating system as well as maintain a check on how the Hardship Fund is distributed.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett addressed the tenant directly when reflecting and told them that “if there was money to do it, it would be dealt with”, but explained that there is not without cutting the budget elsewhere - which would ultimately lead to others in the city suffering. Mr Dennett said they would be writing to central government, and urged Coun Garrido to join them, to urge them to provide more funding to replace the £232 million they have lost out on year by year.
The 4.9 per cent increase in rent was also approved for residents at the Duchy Caravan site which has been managed by Salford council since April 2021.
