Social housing spare rooms a luxury - welfare minister

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13671653

Spare bedrooms for people in social housing are a luxury the country can no longer afford, a minister has said.
Tenants with spare rooms will lose £11 a week in housing benefit under changes going through Parliament.

Figures from the National Housing Federation suggest that around 180,000 social tenants in England are "under-occupying" two-bedroom homes, but just 68,000 one-bedroom social homes became available for letting in a single year.
The legislation will affect England, Scotland and Wales and is expected to come into force in April 2013.

I'm just speechless..mainly because if I expressed myself I'd have to infract myself.

[Welshchris]

what do they mean by under occupying as in letting 2 bedrooms to 1 person?

if this is the case how do they know that they dont need the second bedroom for example if they have kids and their kid comes to stay or if they are ill and they have someone stay with them on occasion.

Has this been taken into account?

[Pauls9]

Has any progress been made on this issue since the article was published in June?

[Taf]

4 widows near us have been under pressure to move into tiny 1-bed flats with no gardens. They have all resisted this as they rightly say that they paid rent to the council for decades without fail, and it is only now that they have Housing Benefit. The oldest is a sprighty 86-year old who says she would rather commit suicide than move. She loves her garden.

Failure to build new council homes is the root of this, but OAP's are an easy target.

I dread to think what would hapen if one of our kids moved away to college for a while. Would we be pressured to downsize?

[Welshchris]

here in Swansea, Housing Associations are building new homes all over the place.

1,2 and 3 bedroom flats + 2,3 and 4 bedroom homes are being built.

Well I'm wondering what happens about separated and divorced parents who share the custody of their children and the children spend equal time with each parent?

[Welshchris]

Maggy thats what i said.

I may need to move to a 2 bedroom flat in the future if my health gets anyworse.

How would it look if i stayed here in a 1 bedroom flat and if i had to have a carer sleep in the same bed as me, it would hardly be professional.

[nomadking]

They're just applying the similar rules for receiving Housing Benefit for private renting to the Council/Social housing sector.

A home doesn't cease to be a home because your kids grow up and move out nor does it cease to be a home because there are other's in your area in need. Maybe i am selfish but i had to wait my turn to get a house and didn't demand people be moved out of their home because they no longer needed one as big as they had and all i want is the same.

I remember how hard it is to wait to get a property and i have sympathy with those currently having to do that but making current tenants suffer because of a lack of planning and action on the part of local and national government is not the way to resolve this problem. There is no shortage of houses where i live there is just a shortage of affordable houses. Want one for £300k not a problem we got more of them then local estate agents can sell but one's that normal people can afford there we do have a massive shortage.

If the government wants to do things to sort this out don't threaten or penalise people already in houses incentivise builders to construct more affordable housing and the same with councils many of whom i imagine are like our local council allowing massively expensive homes to be built because they get more in council tax rather then thinking of the needs of the area they supposedly serve.

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Well I'm wondering what happens about separated and divorced parents who share the custody of their children and the children spend equal time with each parent?

nothing because you won't be under ocupying ,if the room is in use by a member of the family then you would get HB for it ,the same as HB for private rental

Originally Posted by Welshchris

Maggy thats what i said.

I may need to move to a 2 bedroom flat in the future if my health gets anyworse.

How would it look if i stayed here in a 1 bedroom flat and if i had to have a carer sleep in the same bed as me, it would hardly be professional.

Don't panic Mr Manering good grief man all they are saying is that the ammount of HB you get will reflect the size of house you need ,exactly the same as has been in force for years in the private rental sector

Originally Posted by nomadking

They're just applying the similar rules for receiving Housing Benefit for private renting to the Council/Social housing sector.

Correct .My problem with this is that
A) just because the houses are social housing doesn't mean they aren't homes that people have raised families and grown old in .
B)Private rents are a lot higher than council rents that is why HB only pays for the rooms you use so capping the rent on social housing to the rooms you use is wrong imo all that will do is reduce the income for repairs to the local authority because if the HB is cut and the tennant can no longer afford the rent because they are out of work or on the sick then the council will be obliged to move them or reduce the rent

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

A home doesn't cease to be a home because your kids grow up and move out nor does it cease to be a home because there are other's in your area in need. Maybe i am selfish but i had to wait my turn to get a house and didn't demand people be moved out of their home because they no longer needed one as big as they had and all i want is the same.

I remember how hard it is to wait to get a property and i have sympathy with those currently having to do that but making current tenants suffer because of a lack of planning and action on the part of local and national government is not the way to resolve this problem. There is no shortage of houses where i live there is just a shortage of affordable houses. Want one for £300k not a problem we got more of them then local estate agents can sell but one's that normal people can afford there we do have a massive shortage.

If the government wants to do things to sort this out don't threaten or penalise people already in houses incentivise builders to construct more affordable housing and the same with councils many of whom i imagine are like our local council allowing massively expensive homes to be built because they get more in council tax rather then thinking of the needs of the area they supposedly serve.

well said Rizzy

[danielf]

Originally Posted by martyh

Correct .My problem with this is that
A) just because the houses are social housing doesn't mean they aren't homes that people have raised families and grown old in .
B)Private rents are a lot higher than council rents that is why HB only pays for the rooms you use so capping the rent on social housing to the rooms you use is wrong imo all that will do is reduce the income for repairs to the local authority because if the HB is cut and the tennant can no longer afford the rent because they are out of work or on the sick then the council will be obliged to move them or reduce the rent

I don't think the idea is to cap the rent. The idea is to cap the HB. If people want to stay in the house after circumstance change they'll have to make up the shortfall, or move to more 'fitting' housing. While this is clearly going to have some nasty consequences, I can see the reasoning behind it.

Originally Posted by danielf

I don't think the idea is to cap the rent. The idea is to cap the HB. If people want to stay in the house after circumstance change they'll have to make up the shortfall, or move to more 'fitting' housing. While this is clearly going to have some nasty consequences, I can see the reasoning behind it.

cap the HB that's what i meant ,it amounts to the same thing for those on HB and receiving full benefits .It would most likely affect those more severely who are on a low income and in reciept of partial HB and/or tax credits because ,as you say they would have to make up the shortfall out of a meagre income from a part time job

[danielf]

Originally Posted by martyh

cap the HB that's what i meant ,it amounts to the same thing for those on HB and receiving full benefits .It would most likely affect those more severely who are on a low income and in reciept of partial HB and/or tax credits because ,as you say they would have to make up the shortfall out of a meagre income from a part time job

Yes, and while I see this having some nasty consequences, I do wonder if people should continue to receive benefits for a situation that doesn't apply anymore.

[Gary L]

Things are getting worse week after week.
God knows what this country's going to be like in 12 months.

It's not too bad though. we got Dave to cheer us up for another 3 years.

[danielf]