AIBU to hate the line "why should people on housing benefit live in homes that working people can't afford?"

[standupandbecounted]

"Why should people on housing benefit live in houses that working people could not afford?"

I keep seeing this line being thrown about in the media. Along with stories about families, usually with an average of eight kids, claiming a shocking level of housing benefit.The government is going to cap housing benefit to prevent this. Reasonable, but not the whole story.
A a less publicised proposal is to drop the level of Local Housing Allowance(LHA) from the 50th centile to the 30th centile.Local housing allowance is currently set at the median-middle value- of private rents in your local area. In my area the LHA is nowhere near the proposed cap. The maximum I can claim for a 2 bedroom property (I have 2 kids) is 126.92 per week. For a three bedroom it is £150 per week. Shelter have estimate that the average loss for a for a two bedroom tenant in my area will be £12 per week.( I assume this is based on predicted rent levels)
Loss per area here

I am renting a two bedroom flat for myself and two children, aged 18 months and 5. There is no outdoor space, it is not large and not in an exclusive area. The soundproofing is poor and the tenants upstairs are fond of partying way into the early hours. Hardly luxury housing that working people can't afford. I believe this myth about HB claimants living in the best properties does not represent the reality for the majority of us. I have tried to find somewhere better but most landlords will not take HB or children. I have put my name down on the waiting list for council housing but have been awarded thr lowest priority level. I will never get one with that banding.

The thing that upsets me most is the "working people" bit, a lot of HB claimants ARE working people! Housing benefit is also available to people who don't earn enough to cover their rent. Most low income people cannot access council housing anymore. They are forced to rent on the private market, where rents are to high to be affordable on low incomes. This is the case in most areas, not just London.

So, AIBU to feel angry that people on housing benefit are being misrepresented and subjected to unfair cuts?

71,000 children homeless...

Anyone?????

Is it just me or this the word 'entitled' the most annoying word...

I also read the Mail today about the women living in what is clearly very very comfortable conditions moaning and whining about her benefits. How it is nothing to do with anyone else how she spends HER money. Well, it is everything to do with us. Its OUR money, stupid woman and there is a big picture of her with her kids.

People will recognise her in the street, her kids will be bullied unless of course she is one of many who has decided this is the life for her and we are all the mugs paying for it..... £300-£400 for each child at Xmas - staggering view of her sense of entitlement (there, I have used that word again!)

I wonder if anyone has actually taken you up on that work offer Xenia? I distinctly remember one MNer saying she would - grudgingly lol

Actually Xenia, I will talk to you about that at some point. Just need to get myself sorted out first, everything's too up in the air to commit to anything right now.

No, not that everyone has the personal skills or abilities to sell of course.

I thought of this thread when I read thi www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340653/Christmas-benefits-Eloise-Littles-spent-3k-taxpayers-money-presents.html although she sounds like a good mother.

I have no problem with people claiming what they are entitled to or organising their affairs so they pay only the tax due and no more. It's changes to the system which are needed to remove the disincentives to work.

this isn't a new idea, but worth a read I think

Don't get them started chibi....

Bad Chibi!

Ah, Swift was such a good satirist.

People like to think things are fair, not that life ever is fair so some people who are struggling to pay their bills and work full time find it unfair others don't work. We can easily sort that out with workfare and I think that's what is planned so all may be well.

Those that have been (or most who are) in the benefits system are - in the main - profoundly grateful for it.

As I've pointed out before, I suggest those of you who are so quick to condemn all and sundry on benefits, remember these are the people who may look after you in your nursing home.

I've been on full benefits before (having already spent many years working and paying tax) and therefore am fully entitled to comment about what it's like to live on it. It's a nonsense to say it's a breeze to live on it (well, cerainly not if you're in a private rental on HB). Maybe in certain areas, but not where I was.

And still nobody has mentioned the astronomical cost of living in the UK, in particular the cost of housing. If it were more achievable to live on one person's wage and support your child/ren without getting into debt then more people would be doing it. It's not just because every single person on benefits can't be arsed to work. And not every single person who has children does it to earn a place on the benefits roundabout. It is possible to suddenly need it.

Can we please have more intelligence than to continue making these sweeping generalisations? Yes, some fiddle the system and it needs reform. But many, many people actually need it, certainly until costs are brought under control.