Police Commissioner Faces Questions over Evictions

Published on: 6 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 7 Feb, 2026

Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend at the Surrey Police and Crime panel. Surrey County Council

By Isabelle Trubshaw

During a recent Surrey Police and Crime panel, Police Chief Crime Commissioner (PCC), Lisa Townsend, addressed questions regarding officer evictions and the potential funding implications of the planned abolition the PCC role.

Police housing

The commissioner defended her decision to serve Section 21 ‘no fault’ eviction against 22 PCC-owned and subsidised residencies, in precedence of the new Renters Rights Act being introduced in May.

She said: “I have been determined to ensure that we are able to offer affordable housing to those joining Surrey Police who may otherwise be unable to do so, for the earliest part of their service… To enable this ambition, the current policy and eligibility criteria have been reviewed, meaning that notice has been served on current tenants.”

The commissioner explained that Surrey Police has a young workforce and faces difficulty in the recruitment and retention of its officers in an expensive country. She said that the revised criterion is intended to ensure fair distribution of subsidised housing for its officers.

The following criteria must be met:

• Must be a serving member of Surrey Police
• Applicants’ income must not exceed £40,000/annum
• Applicants must have a household income of less than £80,000 per annum, where this is exceeded all members of the household must be serving members of Surrey Police who meet the remainder of the individual criteria.
• Applicants must be in Force less than 3 years
• Applicants must not own another property

The commissioner confirmed that she and Deputy Chief Constable Mark McEwan are in the process of meeting with the evicted tenants on an individual basis to offer additional personal and financial support.

Future funding

Lisa Townsend also responded to an enquiry concerning the operational and financial significance of the planned abolition of the role and Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) in May 2028.

She explained that while the role will be abolished, its responsibilities are expected to transfer over to the mayor, or a ‘Local Policing Board’ comprised of council leaders and a co-opted Policing Lead with ‘relevant skills’.

Townsend confirmed that Surrey Police are working closely under governmental guidance but that the Home Office are still to determine how this arrangement will pragmatically work.

During the panel session, she also acknowledged particular funding concerns of local services who rely on the PCC’s budget to support their initiatives against crime and reoffence – a sum which is expected to total more than £6 million in 2026–27.

The Commissioner explained to the panel that The Ministry of Justice is reviewing alternate ways to fund these initiatives but ensures that any “savings” left over from the re-allocation may not remain with the Surrey Police but could instead be distributed to other bodies’ and government-led initiatives.

She said: “The issue of where best to deploy the police is ultimately a matter for the Chief Constable to take within the resources at his disposal.”

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