By Richard Staines
24 June 2010
Restricting the housing benefit available to long-term unemployed people will fuel wider social problems, campaigners have said.
In his Budget speech, Chancellor George Osborne said the housing benefit system was in ‘dire need’ of reform.
‘Costs are completely out of control. We now spend more on housing benefit than we do on the police and on universities combined,’ he said.
A number of cost-saving measures will come into effect, producing annual savings of £1.8bn by the end of the Parliament. These include a 10% cut in housing benefit from April 2013 for people who have claimed Jobseekers Allowance for more than 12 months.
From next April there will be maximum limits on housing benefit payments, from £250 a week for a one-bedroom property up to a maximum of £400 a week for properties with four bedrooms or more.
Helen Williams, assistant director for neighbourhoods at the National Housing Federation, said cuts to housing benefit for jobless people would cause hardship.
‘It means a risk of eviction from private rented accommodation, increased levels of homelessness, stress and problems of health and wellbeing.’
Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb echoed these concerns. He told Public Finance that only building more homes would help.
Howard Farrand, president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said the move could put landlords in an ‘untenable position’, as they will be asked to house the most vulnerable while facing large-scale arrears if a tenant’s housing benefit is cut.
‘Linking housing benefit to the size of homes occupied could provide a spur to freeing up larger under-occupied social homes but will succeed only if there are wider changes in the supply of housing. Otherwise it could be detrimental in particular for older people.’
24 June 2010
Restricting the housing benefit available to long-term unemployed people will fuel wider social problems, campaigners have said.
In his Budget speech, Chancellor George Osborne said the housing benefit system was in ‘dire need’ of reform.
‘Costs are completely out of control. We now spend more on housing benefit than we do on the police and on universities combined,’ he said.
A number of cost-saving measures will come into effect, producing annual savings of £1.8bn by the end of the Parliament. These include a 10% cut in housing benefit from April 2013 for people who have claimed Jobseekers Allowance for more than 12 months.
From next April there will be maximum limits on housing benefit payments, from £250 a week for a one-bedroom property up to a maximum of £400 a week for properties with four bedrooms or more.
Helen Williams, assistant director for neighbourhoods at the National Housing Federation, said cuts to housing benefit for jobless people would cause hardship.
‘It means a risk of eviction from private rented accommodation, increased levels of homelessness, stress and problems of health and wellbeing.’
Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb echoed these concerns. He told Public Finance that only building more homes would help.
Howard Farrand, president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said the move could put landlords in an ‘untenable position’, as they will be asked to house the most vulnerable while facing large-scale arrears if a tenant’s housing benefit is cut.
‘Linking housing benefit to the size of homes occupied could provide a spur to freeing up larger under-occupied social homes but will succeed only if there are wider changes in the supply of housing. Otherwise it could be detrimental in particular for older people.’
