Man urges fellow tenants to reject increase in rent
AN East End man is in a battle against proposed rent increases at his housing association. Dennistoun resident Paul Leese called on fellow Reidvale Housing Association (RHA) tenants to reject proposals for a £1.23 increase in their weekly rent.
Currently, residents of RHA homes in the city’s Dennistoun pay around £64.90 a week to the social landlord.
Paul, a former engineer, fears residents will accept the “relatively small” but above inflation increase.
He said: “They send the letter every year, I fill it out rejecting it and it goes up.
“It doesn’t affect me as much but I want to fight for the other tenants. I got made redundant after a mini-stroke so I went on pension credits, so my rent is paid.
“My point is the other tenants; we’re in the middle of a pandemic and people have been furloughed, one of my friends has had his wages cut.
“The housing they just think aren’t bothered, Universal Credit will pay for it and the government will top it up.
“We’re in the middle of this crisis and they want more money?”
The 63-year-old said he was still waiting on promised repairs to his close and was aware of other work due to be carried out last year which still had not started.
While acknowledging the “good things” RHA do – the housing association operates allotments along Reidvale Street – Paul thought too much money was being spent on sponsoring awards at local schools and being donated to charities, such as the community centre and the play area.
Paul claimed that the housing association ended the last financial year with a surplus and demanded to know where this money was being spent.
RHA did not confirm this but Susan Wilson, the interim director of the organisation, argued it faced “particular challenges in maintaining ageing tenement stock and achieving energy efficiency standards”.
She said: “We are very conscious of the impact of any increase in rent on our tenants but we know from carrying out comparisons that our rents are lower than many of our peers across Scotland. We have also carried out affordability testing of our rents which have confirmed that our rents are affordable for those on moderate income in our area.”
Defending the housing association’s donations to charitable causes and community initiatives, she added: “We do make donations to Reidvale Adventure Play Association and the Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre because we believe they are important to the area.
“However, we are not their only source of funding and they are long-standing organisations which are independent from the housing association.
“These are not the only recipients of our Community Regeneration funding through which we make awards to tenants, local schools and students and support a variety of community projects.”
We’re in the middle of this crisis and they want more