Residents of New Era Estate in Hoxton secure means-tested rents
The New Era estate in Hoxton. Photograph: Hackney Citizen
Residents of the New Era estate in Hoxton will be able to have their rent means-tested, following a successful campaign to stop rent hikes on the housing estate.
Social landlord Dolphin Living assured New Era tenants in a newsletter this week that no one would have to leave the estate because they couldn’t afford the rent, describing the means-testing as a “radical new rent policy”.
US property investors Westbrook Partners bought the estate in 2013, prompting fervent protest and a 300,000-strong petition against proposals to increase rent.
The estate was subsequently sold to Dolphin Living, a housing charity, last December. Jon Gooding, the charity’s chief executive, said in a statement at the time that the organisation was committed to securing “the legacy of the New Era estate as a community which is affordable to working Londoners”.
The Hackney Citizen reported in March that Dolphin Living had been in negotiations with tenants regarding a style of rent management whereby richer residents would pay more rent than those on lower incomes.
An agreement on means-testing has now been reached and information on the new rent policy was sent out this week. The scheme will be implemented on 1 January 2016 for existing shorthold tenants, who comprise the majority of residents.
Tenants will have the choice to remain paying ‘standard rent’, or to opt-in to the new ‘personalised rent’ scheme. ‘Standard rent’ tenants will not be required to produce evidence of income, and their rents will be linked to inflation.
Those choosing the ‘personalised rent’ scheme will make payments in line with recommendations by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), a social research charity.
Their means-tested rent, also taking ages, needs and numbers of occupants into account, aims to ensure households are left with the Minimum Income Standard, that is “what members of the public think is enough money to live on, to maintain a socially-acceptable quality of life”. New lets will all be under the new, means-tested rental policy.
Gooding said: “We are pleased to offer a choice for our residents designed to best suit their financial needs. By offering an ‘opt-in’ rental scheme, our calculations show that two thirds of residents will be better off – however, we will also introduce a standard rental option should they prefer.”
Diane Abbott, Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP, tweeted the news about the rent “experiment”:
New Era tenants in Hackney given means-tested rents. Interesting experiment http://t.co/v4EA80EB1v
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) August 18, 2015
New Era Estate is a strong and tight knit community living on low to moderate incomes in Hoxton, where it is increasingly unaffordable to rent in the private sector. Dolphin Living’s proposal to base rents on income and living standards, rather than a percentage of an over heated private rental market, will I hope keep the community together and offer tenants the fair deal they fought for, and the Council wanted to see.
Contrast this with the Government’s ‘pay-to-stay’ policy on social rents, where there is a real danger of couples and families on relatively low combined incomes being hit by a crude £40,000 cap before they might have to pay full market rents. As the Council has been saying in our ‘10 Steps to Better Private Renting’ campaign we need to see real reform of the private rented sector if it is to be sustainable and affordable for local people.