Northerners could be particularly hit by Welfare Bill
In an article written for the Guardian, Derek Long, the National Housing Federation’s regional head, has claimed that proposals to cut housing benefit to working-age tenants who “under-occupy” social housing could end up, “mugging….a quarter of a million northerners’.
Long describes how the policy proposal to cut housing benefit by 13% for one spare bedroom and 23% for two or more, “will hit disabled people, foster carers and care sharers. The social sector is already four times more efficient than the market at matching people to homes. The policy redistributes resources from the periphery to the centre, penalises tenants across Britain for ancient public-housing investment decisions and may even produce less efficient housing markets”.
Mr Long said that the proposals highlighted that, “the Coalition’s housing policies are mainly designed for the politics and prosperity of the fast-growing South”.
Mr Long also added that the proposed penalty for under occupancy could ‘incentivise overcrowding, whilst larger homes increasingly stand vacant, because new families cannot afford to leave home.’
For Long’s full article, click here
Website: Guardian
Amanda Frewin
Research & Project Support
