A LABOUR councillor has warned the housing department of Hertsmere Borough Council is in crisis following staff cuts.

Cllr Ernie Butler (Lab/Cowley Hill) says the deletion of six roles in the wake of central Government's comprehensive spending review, in October 2010, has left the council ill-equipped to deal with an ever-increasing number of people joining the housing list.

He says staff are now working twice as hard to tackle a register that has increased by almost a thousand names in two years.

Figures show that on January 27, 2009, there were 1,517 people on the list, increasing to 2,488 by May 10, 2011.

Cllr Butler said: “The council knew this crisis was coming, because of the change in benefits and private landlords pushing up their rents.

“They have left the department with a skeleton staff and I do not think they are coping. They could be on the verge of collapse if something isn't done soon.”

Cllr Butler said he felt the Conservative council should be tackling the housing list by increasing demands for social housing in any new planning developments.

He also suggested the council use some of its “millions in reserves” to buy or build a small stock of its own social housing.

He summed up his message as simply: “We need to get more social housing in the area”.

The portfolio holder for housing, Cllr Seamus Quilty (Con/Bushey Heath) said he did not believe there was a crisis in Hertsmere.

He explained the high numbers of names on the housing list were partially due to law, which allows people to apply for housing in any part of the country, and a comparatively generous qualifying criteria in Hertsmere – something that is currently under review.

Cllr Quilty said: “We are positively working to make the housing list fairer to all and at the same time offer hope to those on it.”

The council expects changes ushered in under the Localism Bill, which is due for its second reading in Parliament in June, will allow it to make stricter rules regarding the criteria for housing in Hertsmere.

It will try to introduce a principle that all applicants must have some sort of connection to the area, which it predicts could reduce the register by more than 500 people.

Defending the deletion of six positions in the housing department, the council say the restructure has actually only reduced the number of roles by three, all of which were not front-facing, due to two roles being part-time and the creation of two new posts.

Glen Wooldrige, director of environment with responsibility for housing, said: "The newly structured housing department is coping well with the current demand for our services. We feel it reflects the changing need of our customers as we now have more homeless support officers than we did before.

"In addition we are reviewing our policies to help address some of the issues around housing need and have also found new ways of working to streamline and improve services. This includes changing the way we administer housing and homeless applications to make the process more effective and efficient for both staff and applicants."