The government’s housing policy is ‘not fit for purpose’, an MHK claims.

Onchan MHK Rob Callister has written to the Infrastructure Minister to raise concerns about how rent-setting levels are being imposed on social housing tenants.

He said some low-income couples are being denied access to public sector housing as the financial threshold is artificially set too low.

And he is calling for the department to reset the thresholds in line with the minimum wage.

Mr Callister cited the example of one tenant in Onchan whose rent has increased by around 50% following a five-year tenancy review.

‘I know this is not an isolated case,’ he said.

In his letter to Tim Crookall, the Onchan MHK said the DoI ‘seems continually driven by a desire to reduce the deficiency payments instead of trying to implement a fair rental policy’.

He said he believes the income thresholds to access social housing are set ‘far too low’, especially for a couple applying jointly with no dependent children.

Mr Callister said the minimum wage in the island is around £21,000 a year for a 37.5 hour week, and this could, with Tynwald approval, rise to £23,000 from July.

Based on this, he argued that the maximum annual gross income threshold for a joint couple with no dependents should be set at £42,000 or higher, rather than the current £38,000.

And he said this should increase to £46,000 if the minimum wage does go up in July.

Mr Callister said that while the threshold for joint couples with no children is currently £38,000, that for a single applicant, again with no kids, is £34,500, a difference of only £3,500.

He said: ‘This clearly shows that the public sector housing policy 2023 financial thresholds put young couples who are yet to start a family at a disadvantage..

‘This clearly shows the department’s housing policy is not fit for purpose.

‘Two individuals in full-time employment on the minimum wage are simply not eligible for public housing in the island, but a single individual on a salary far higher than the minimum wage can apply for and access social housing.’

He said this also puts additional pressure on the private rental market, because people who should actually be on the local authority housing waiting list are having to look elsewhere.

Mr Callister also questioned whether rent reviews were working correctly.

He said in the case of the tenant in Onchan who had seen their rent rise by around 50%, both adults in the property worked full-time and their total income was about £55,000.

‘If the threshold was set at minimum wage at the very least, then I would expect the tenant to be paying an extra 15%, and certainly not 50%,’ he said.

In Tynwald this month, the Infrastructure Minister confirmed that there were 912 applications on the register for public sector housing in the third quarter of 2023-24.