Housing benefit cuts will create 'ghettos'
23/07/2010
Coalition government warned 200,000 people at risk of homelessness
Cuts to housing benefit will destroy mixed communities and create “clusters of poverty”, according to leading voices in the housing sector.The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) says that within a generation there will be towns and cities all over the country where there is “no accommodation with a rent within the reach of people whose income is supported by benefits”.
A new CIH report savages the coalition government’s proposals to slash the housing benefit bill by more than £4billion before 2014/15. It says the Chancellor’s plan “will hit low income households hard…precisely when they are most in need of support”.
George Osborne wants to cap the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) at £250 and £400 depending on the size of house, and set the allowance rates using the bottom 30 per cent of rents in an area. This will mean many families being forced to move out of private rented accommodation, hitting those living in
Richard Capie, the CIH’s director of policy and practice, said: “It will increasingly make it difficult for anyone receiving LHA to be able to rent privately, and could force them to migrate. It will happen across the country – the only places people will be able to afford will be the absolute cheapest where we see the supply of social rented market is quite low. The private rented sector has been a safety valve, but now you end up forcing the poorest families to congregate in communities where they have no other choices.”
Osborne’s further cut to housing benefit of 10% for anyone on jobseekers allowance for over a year will leave many social housing tenants in immediate difficulty meeting rent. The National Housing of Federation has warned as many as 200,000 will be at risk of homelessness. Housing charity Shelter nearly half of housing benefit claimants are making up a shortfall of £100 to meet their rent.
Gordon MacRae, head of policy at Shelter
The heated debate over housing benefit cuts comes as a European Commission-funded study looking at welfare systems across the continent finds helping low-income families with housing costs has a larger impact on their welfare than any other type of support. Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Foundation, said withdrawing help for anyone in mixed or relatively affluent areas was counter-intuitive. She said: “This would create more problems than it would solve, as it is vital that we do not end up creating more ghettos or forcing people to travel miles to work.”
Opposition figures like Ken Livingstone have accused the government of “social cleansing” of poorer tenants from desirable areas. Helen Goodman, Labour's front bench spokeswoman on child poverty, said that the government had used a few extreme examples of huge rents bills footed by the taxpayer as a “ruse” to cut housing benefit. “The truth is that only 100 households in the entire country receive housing benefit of more than £1,000 a week,” she said. “It is shameful that the poor and needy will be hit. The scale of the reductions will mean one million people will lose at least £500 every year.”
The Scottish Government has launched a £50m fund intended to boost regeneration deprived urban areas. The Jessica Scotland Fund - assisted by a £24m grant from the European Regional Development Fund - is intended to kick-start large-scale regeneration schemes mothballed during the recession.
Loading...
More News...
Mercury Prize given the Elbow
Nominees say inclusion in the short list for tomorrow's award is 'surreal'
Nobel Laureate tackles Big Issues
Justice, poverty and philosophy on the agenda at Book Festival talk
OAP scam warning
As doorstep rip-offs increase campaigners call for end to cold-calling
Sir Alex pays tribute to friend and "great Govan man"
Manchester United legend honours the late Jimmy Reid
Free festival for Big Issue vendors
Universal Arts give magazine sellers free tickets for shows
Health gap between rich and poor getting wider
Inequality at record high and set to get worse, say researchers
Demand grows for 'living wage'
Cuts will not stop efforts to end in-work poverty, say campaigners
Thousands say farewell to Stuart Cable
Aberdare came to a standstill as tributes were paid to the popular star
This week's issue
Share this on