More workers claiming Housing Benefit, NHF finds

10 Dec 13
Soaring rents are forcing more working people to rely on Housing Benefit, with the number of employed claimants more than doubling since 2009, the National Housing Federation has warned.

By Vivienne Russell | 10 December 2013

Soaring rents are forcing more working people to rely on Housing Benefit, with the number of employed claimants more than doubling since 2009, the National Housing Federation has warned.

In Home truths, a report published today, the NHF said an extra 310 people each day were turning to the government for help with paying rent.

Housing Benefit for working people had cost £12.1bn since 2009, the NHF said. It added payments were set to increase further with rising house prices shutting an entire generation out of home ownership. This is forcing people to rent for life, and rents are predicted to increase by 39% by the end of the decade.

NHF chief executive David Orr said: ‘We hear a lot about “making work pay”, but a decent job won’t even cover the cost of a home in England. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is wasted, lining the pockets of private landlords, when it could be better spent building more homes people can afford. Relying on the private rented sector so heavily is a costly sticking plaster rather than a solution.’

The NHF called for more affordable housing to be built in areas of the country that are growing most strongly, while in areas that have stalled economically, local enterprise partnerships should work with housing associations and other to create jobs and revitalise communities.

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