[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

I was looking at this about 3 months ago as I heard someone getting at a Liberal Counclillor about it on one of their street stall things they have at times.

The way I see it is, people were made tenants of these houses, for a great number it has been their home for life almost, they have many memories over the years, they have done all the decoration of the house and also the gardens too if it is a 3 bedroomed house say with a garden.
A lot then, of personal investment from them as to the property.

I understand they were likely given secure tenancies and if needed the financial aid was always assessed on the occupation of the house as in numbers in it.
If for instance,someone was eligible for housing benefit, but had someone living in with them,the housing benefit was reduced by that person living in the house too.
If only the tenant lived in the house nothing was reduced as to housing benefit.

I understand also, that the likely change will be ,around 10%+ will now be taken off the housing benefit payment granted if you have one bedroom vacant,regardless of whether family stay at times whatever.
If you have 2 bedrooms unoccupied then likely around 20%+ will be removed from the housing benefit granted.

If I have got all that right, then I think firstly,yes, it is wrong. I find it incredible that people can avoid massive tax payments and then you have this measure again likely in the main, hitting the poorest,weakest and most vulnerable of society.
If it had right to it, and I can see the thinking behind having 3 bedroomed houses for families,I feel this is not the way.
I think the benefit reductions proposed are way too high.ironically these Liberal councillors all said it was wrong too but it had benn supported by the parliamentary Lib Dems along with the Conservatives.

The questioner as to this though had a great point that they were getting around £80 weekly housing benefit, had a vacant bedroom so would lose around £9 a week if they stayed in the house, however to move them to a 2 bedroomed flat,the only ones available, were for rents near as high as the house is, so to move to the flat, the same original housing benefit would then have to be paid still.
Then they would likely have to cover cost of decoration that home as they would want it to be.

For me, overall, it is a badly thought out policy again, the reduction levels of the benefits seem too high and it is in my view unfair to come along now after so many decades of these payments permitted and in place to then take them away.
I believe in a cap as to benefits but this is not the way I feel.

The Govt,needs to invest and get going building programmes of affordable housing, social housing as I now believe it is called.
Not attack and get at tenants who by no fault of their own are now going to have even futher financial pressures put on them with this policy which I fear on reading about it and looking at its detail will cause far more problems than it will likely solve in the long run and do little to cut expenditure on housing benefit payments too.

Great post joey, It will solve nothing and disrupt further social cohesion.. its a mess!