Affordability

I recently met Teresa, a lone parent and Housing Executive tenant in rent arrears.  Teresa was at risk of possession and really needed help. 

Teresa was having difficulties paying her rent because she was under a lot of financial pressure and she had debts including a couple of payday loans which she’d taken out to tide her over at a time when she was finding things particularly tough.

Here at Housing Rights Service we do a lot of work helping tenants who live in social housing deal with rent arrears and housing benefit problems.  There are so many different aspects to advising someone in this situation that I thought it might be helpful to look at some of the most important elements of a rent arrears case.

A recent case before the Upper Tribunal in England looked at the effective date for the backdating of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). SMI is a government scheme which provides assistance to homeowners facing problems meeting some of their housing costs.

The second annual Poverty in Northern Ireland report (August 2013) gives estimates of the proportion of children, working age adults and pensioners living in low income households during 2011-2012.

The report is based on information collected for the annual Family Resources Survey, which has been running since 2002.
Some of the key findings include: