Should not have to pay for decisions

DEAR Editor, along with thousands of Birmingham City council house tenants, I have had a significant rent increase and I know the Council Tax is going up too; whilst I am aware that there is an annual increase, I do resent the amount.

After all, it wasn’t the social housing tenants who made a decision to not pay female worker’s an equal wage, or chose to host The Commonwealth Games, whilst in serious financial trouble and at a cost of millions.

This ineptitude was followed by the decision to implement a new software system, Oracle, costing 20 million; whilst this tech update was brought in to make the process more efficient, staff didn’t adapt to Oracle and requested software to fit their practices. Accommodating this led to further financial chaos.

Along with the distress that will be caused by the brutal cuts the council is having to make, many council tenants continue to live in dangerous homes, with overdue Asbestos surveys, electrical safety checks and fire risk assessments. There are still homes far from ‘decent’ with shocking levels of mould, unfit/rotting kitchens and bathrooms and people are getting ill, with some tragically and unnecessarily, dying.

Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulations, stated that: ‘Birmingham City Council has failed thousands of tenants, who are living in homes in an unacceptable, unsafe, condition. The Council also needs to improve the manner and competency with which it addresses Tenants complaints’

Tenant’s are watching in despair as our landlord assures us, by it’s actions, that things are going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better, whilst wondering how are we are going to pay the rent.

Julia Hone, Weoley Castle,

Birmingham