Newham residents to see nine per cent council tax rise
Newham residents will see a nine per cent council tax rise from April after the government allowed the authority to increase rates above a 4.99 per cent cap.
News recently came to light the council were seeking a 9.99 per cent increase and was first covered on this site following council reports before titles like the Evening Standard covered it, with rises attributed to ever rising costs for temporary housing.
Newham currently have more 3,000 households in extremely expensive temporary accommodation owing to high private rents and a lack of social housing.
A similar story can be seen across London with Greenwich now seeing 2,000 and Lewisham around 3,000.
Many London boroughs have similar issues with expenditure now at £1.4bn a year with hotels and B&Bs increasingly used. B&B use also rose by 662 per cent in two years.
Some households are also moved out of London though that has resulted in pressures across the country with county councils facing ever higher housing pressure and costs.
In the past year much of the former Olympic area around Stratford has passed into the hands of Newham Council.
Much housing was publicly funded then sold to companies including the Qatari wealth fund in 2011 at far less than it cost to build.
Newham also has seen half of its 26,000 private landlords (not a typo) not declaring tax.
I feel for the residents of Newham a 9% increase in Council Tax is a huge rise during an on going cost of living crisis. I do not know how some working people are going to be able to afford it.
I have not heard yet what the council tax rise for Greenwich Residents will be from.April..
I believe Greenwich is going up %4.99
Thank you for letting me know Jeremy.