Liberal Democrats today stopped Conservatives from making it harder for the vulnerable to get housing.

The Tory-led Adults & Housing committee was about to agree a draft Code of Guidance for Housing Allocations, when Tory Cllr John Godwin proposed amending it. Under his plans, the council could have decided that a person had more right to housing if they have a job than if they don’t.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Maggie Tyrell told the committee: “Some of the people hardest hit by this would be single parents with children younger than 7 – frequently it’s not that they don’t want to work, but that they can’t, because childcare costs are so high. This proposal feels like we’d be taking people at their most vulnerable, and making it harder for them.”

The Tory proposals were defeated 7-5 when Labour members joined with the Liberal Democrats to vote it down.

   Leave a comment