A Douglas councillor is urging all social housing tenants to complete a government consultation which could change the income eligibility thresholds for existing contracts.

Peter Washington, chairman of the local authority’s housing committee, said the government’s current proposals could have a ‘disastrous’ impact on retired residents and people hoping to join housing waiting lists in future.

The consultation closes today (May 19) and also includes proposals to remove certain ‘priority’ points that no longer reflect housing need, while introducing greater ‘discretion’ for local housing authorities.

Mr Washington said the consultation process had been rushed and argued it should have lasted six months rather than six weeks.

‘If you're in private sector [social] housing and you're struggling with your rent, and you can't see your future prospects getting any better because you can't get a mortgage, you really need to do this survey,’ he said.

‘We would like to get as many people to do the survey as we can.’

The consultation follows recent disagreements between local authorities over whether to apply an additional one percent rent increase for social housing tenants under a new system introduced by the Department of Infrastructure.

From April 1, rents for all public sector housing, including sheltered accommodation and DoI housing, increased in line with the September 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was set at 2.9 percent.

Housing authorities can also choose to impose an extra one percent rise to generate additional funding for housing maintenance and development projects.

Douglas City Council approved the additional increase, while Ramsey Commissioners rejected it, warning the move could create a ‘postcode lottery’ for tenants across the Island.

Lead member for finance Juan McGuinness said: ‘If our housing officer says there isn’t the need for our rents to increase by an additional one percent then we’ve got to go with what the figures represent.’