'No' to means testing for local authority housing

A candidate hoping to take over from Tony Brown as the MHK for Castletown says means testing is 'a horrible thing'.

Colin Leather, who has been a commissioner in the town for 30 years, says there is a stigma associated with basing people's eligibility for social housing on their income.

He says he can't think of any local authority tenants in Castletown who would be able to afford luxuries like second homes.

Mr Leather, 66, believes you don't get very far with means testing, and bases his opinion on personal experience (listen to audio file below):

Colin Leather was speaking on Friday's Talking Heads, at which point five candidates had declared their intention to contest the seat recently vacated by Mr Brown.

The others were Jason Moorhouse, David Pownall and local commissioners Richard Ronan and Carol Quine.