Perth and Kinross Council is planning to introduce a scheme which would see tenants – who have more space than they need – being encouraged and offered incentives to downsize.
Currently around 2000 PKC tenants live in larger homes than their household needs, with about 200 having at least two more bedrooms than they require.
PKC’s Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee will be asked to give its approval to the scheme being introduced from April 2025 when it meets on Wednesday, January 22.
The proposal is part of an update to the local authority’s Common Allocations Policy.
The aim of the revised Tenant Downsizing Scheme is to help provide housing for larger families. There are an estimated 120 tenants who need larger homes due to overcrowding.
Perth and Kinross Council has said there was “strong support for encouraging tenants with extra rooms to downsize”. A report on the review of PKC’s Common Allocations Policy- going before councillors on Wednesday – states that feedback from tenants was that “people who are under-occupying should be ‘forced’ to move to a smaller property”.
But it is illegal to “force” under-occupying tenants to move to a smaller property. However, the council can provide encouragement and incentives for tenants to downsize.
PKC’s proposed revised scheme will:
- be offered just to PKC tenants
- offer cash and/or non-cash incentives up to £2,000 (such as providing flooring in the new home, arranging removals etc.)
- give tenants more choice in the type and size of property they can move to
- be actively promoted to tenants with significantly under-occupied homes who have not yet applied for alternative housing.
Housing and Social Wellbeing Commitee convener Councillor Tom McEwan said: “In Perth and Kinross we are pro-actively addressing housing supply and demand pressures with a range of innovative initiatives. The Tenant Downsizing Scheme will help us address the mismatch between housing need and available properties in Perth and Kinross. By encouraging tenants who are under-occupying their homes to downsize, we can free up larger properties for families who desperately need more space. This approach will help us create a more balanced and efficient use of our housing resources, ultimately improving the quality of life for many of our tenants.”