'Speed-dating' for Norfolk housing tenants

Circle Housing Group said more than 1,000 people had registered on its house exchange website

A housing association in Norfolk helping tenants cope with changes to housing benefits have drawn inspiration from an unlikely source - speed dating.

The Wherry Housing Association is running an event in Norwich to help people swap houses and so avoid the under-occupation penalty.

It hopes to match up tenants looking to downsize or who want a bigger house.

Housing benefit for those receiving it in social housing with spare bedrooms was cut in April by about £14 a week.

'One true match'

Matching up people who go to the event in The Forum will mirror its romantic counterpart, with everyone wearing a badge with the requirements of the properties they want to move into, alongside details of their current home.

Kim Doran from Wherry Housing said: "We're hoping that lots of tenants are going to come down.

"You can have a chat to each other - I don't think we'll be hearing the buzzer going after two minutes though.

"Their one true match could be in The Forum today."

Susan Sandell from Norwich went to the event as she wanted to downsize from her three-bedroom house to a two-bedroom bungalow, because of her disabilities.

"I was in rent arrears, and I didn't realise I was until the council came round to see me," she said.

"It's a struggle to manage, trying to live on social [security] and having the bedroom tax as well.

"I'm feeling a bit hopeful after coming in here, but we could have had all this help for people in my predicament years ago."

The idea of speed dating came after new figures from the Circle Housing Group, of which Wherry Housing is a part, showed more than 1,000 people had registered on their house exchange website, which also matches up tenants who want to swap homes.

The website is run by Circle to help social housing tenants move more easily, and currently has more than 6,000 registered properties in Norfolk.

By cutting housing benefits for those of working age the government wants to end what it calls the "spare room subsidy" for social tenants, but critics have dubbed the move a "bedroom tax".