VULNERABLE tenants living in sheltered accommodation and hostels in Southend are set to be with with £80 monthly increase in bills.

South Essex Homes is increasing costs by 104 per cent for heating and lighting in communal areas - including kitchens and shared living spaces - in its blocks of flats across Southend.

The housing association is planning to increase heating costs by £12.63 and service charge costs by £7.85 per week for residents living in sheltered accommodation or hostels.

Bosses have insisted the increase is a result of the housing association being hit by a significant rise in the price it is paying for energy.

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Tony Cox, leader of the Southend Conservatives said: “My heart and sympathy goes out to the residents and tenants who are affected by this.

“It will really hit people hard and will affect people who rent or bought their homes. Hopefully as we see energy prices come down we should see this reduce.

“It’s a significant rise and we warned people about this previously. Obviously the decision was taken to pass this cost to tenants.

“I would rather see this be offset from other funds in the council. It’s a huge increase in cost for the residents.”

A spokesman for South Essex Homes stated the association had written to residents at the start of the cost-of-living crisis to warn them there would be an “inevitable”

rise in bills from April this year.

The spokesman added: “The letter advised them to ensure they were receiving all the benefits they were entitled to and suggested they may wish to start putting aside money to help towards these future increases.

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"It also highlighted steps that South Essex Homes have been taking to try and reduce energy bills for these buildings and suggested ways they too can help to keep these costs down.

“We put on resident meetings in December and invited all affected tenants to attend, to find out more about the upcoming changes to their heating charges. We have also recently started distributing a booklet to sheltered housing tenants about the help available to them during the cost of living crisis.

“Our Specialist Income Management Team and our Support Services Team are always happy to speak to tenants who need help with budgeting so anyone worried about making ends meet can contact those teams on 0800 833 160.”