Government Defends Rent And Repair Scheme Following GSD Criticism

The Government has defended its Rent and Repair Scheme, saying the additional 20 properties will create more opportunities for people on the housing waiting list.

A statement from the Government follows below:

GSD’s Criticism of the Rent and Repair Scheme clearly demonstrates a basic lack of understanding Housing. 

What the GSD appears to have failed to understand is how the Rent & Repair Scheme actually benefits applicants on the housing waiting list. 

The additional 20 properties (and NOT 25 as GSD erroneously reported) are being brought into the Government rental market and made available to applicants who, under the normal allocation arrangements, would otherwise not have had the opportunity to be allocated those properties. 

To suggest that these additional properties do nothing to help those on the waiting list is simply ludicrous! 

Furthermore, the benefits do not stop there. Applicants who take up the offer may themselves be occupying Government accommodation. When they move into one of these properties, the accommodation they vacate can then be made available to other applicants on the waiting list.

Therefore, the scheme has the potential to create a double benefit: providing additional housing opportunities in the first instance, whilst also releasing existing Government accommodation for allocation to other applicants. 

This is precisely why the GSD’s criticism is so misplaced. Rather than recognising the wider benefits of bringing additional properties into the Government rental market, they choose to dismiss and scoff an initiative which can provide further opportunities for people waiting for Government accommodation. 

Finally, it is somewhat rich for the GSD to lecture others on housing waiting lists. 

In 1996, when the GSD took office, it inherited a waiting list of 465 applicants, as recorded in the 1996 Budget debate in Hansard (pages 65–66). By the time it left Government in 2011, this government (GSLP/LIBS) inherited a figure that had risen to approximately 1,600 applicants. 

Perhaps before criticising the efforts of others, the GSD should reflect on its own record in Government and the legacy it left behind in housing. 

For us twenty more properties equals to 20 more opportunities for people on the waiting list to have a home. 

This government is getting on with the job rather than simply talking about it.