This comes despite the news that tenants face growing arrears and debt, Housing Leader Councillor Cammy Day has said.
Almost 3,000 Council tenants are under-occupying their home and face paying between £14 and £25 per week as their housing benefit doesn't pay for their extra room. Yet, only around 1,500 of these tenants have applied for extra help available from the Council through Discretionary Housing Payments. The Council was awarded further funds from the Scottish Government in September this year, to bring the total available for Discretionary Housing Payments to more than £3m.
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Recent figures from the Council's housing service reveal an estimated £1.25m of arrears are attributable to people not paying the under-occupancy charge, which has been dubbed the 'bedroom tax'. Speaking at the East Neighbourhood Office in Craigmillar, Councillor Day said: "It's critical that hard-pressed tenants seek the extra help the Council is offering in the form of Discretionary Housing Payments, otherwise they face getting deeper into debt.
"Staff from the Council and advice agencies have been holding special surgeries and writing to, visiting and calling tenants over the last few months but ultimately tenants need to apply for the assistance available or they will lose out. I would urge any tenant who hasn't yet applied for extra help to get in touch with their local housing office without delay."
The under-occupancy charge was introduced to encourage tenants with a spare room to move to a smaller home. On average, there is only ever one single bedroom property available to let for every 80 under-occupying households in the city.
(JP/IT)
