to question the cut in housing benefits for under occupying council tenants?

[Liketochat1]

In April next year the government are cutting housing benefits to working age council tenants who have more bedrooms than they need. They will be offered alternative accommodation of an appropriate size with no reduction in housing benefit as an alternative.
Is it fair to change the current system like this? To ask people to leave their homes and possibly the area in which they live? To expect siblings of the same gender to share a room?
Do you think it will be extended to include oaps who occupy properties which are too big for them. Should it?

God how many of used to share bedrooms with siblings? If there were more kids than rooms and your parents couldn't afford to move you had no choice. I remember one of my friends sharing a room with her brother which had a curtain down the middle of it, he learnt to wank quietly!

I don't understand the culture if entitlement where people think the government, well really the rest of the population has to pay for their lifestyle choices.

I don't know enough about ADHD to say if it exists or not. But I read that some medical professionals don't recognise it as it cannot be diagnosed with any certainty and improved diet and behavioural controls can improve it. I'm only quoting what I've read on the net. So quite prepared for people to say that is absolute rubbish.

It's totally inhumane.

Any responsible government with an ounce of humanity should be tackling the issue by looking at ways to create more affordable housing and incentivising people to take in lodgers, not forcing thousands of children to leave their schools and friends and people to move away from their jobs (don't forget many on housing benefit work).

You can take in lodgers , certainly in my HA you can.

Dining rooms can be classed as a bed space.

ohhhhhh knickers firmly not twisted. i also get bugged about people just saying it so anyways lets get back on topic.

a poster asked why ss/docs would say a child needed there own room,it would be impossible to list all the reasons but a lot of times it can be due to a disability that could place another sibling at risk of direct harm.sensory issues. the type of personal care a person may need. it could be a condition of a child returning home out of either a hospital/care.it could also be a condition of a child not being placed in care.

given that if your child has a real need to have there own room it is often very very hard to obtain the correct proof it is shocking to me that this can be ignored.

I live on a 'hard to let estate', not far from Norris Green Liverpool, there are two houses boarded up in each street, constantly, there are empty properties now.

I was talking to the brother of my neighbour who has a three bed house because he has his children of a weekend, occassionally.

He has been told that this will affect him and he will have to move.

The rents are low on my estste to attract tenants, his new 1 bed flat will cost the country more and leave another boarded up property.

From a LP POV, the girls who have one child and are getting their lives back on track, will have to move, whereas the one's that knock out children can stay.

There is going to be a massive shortage of flats shortly and boarded up houses, in my city, what then?

SaraSidle given that this will only impact those on HB who will lose 14% of there award for 1 extra room (even if they have a adult lodger) are you surgesting they should also allow themselves to be further punished by loseing 14% then the none dependant deduction?

and yes a dining room can be classed as a bed space but only on overcrowding. many many la/ha houses do not have dining rooms. how exactly would having a dining room or not impact on HB?

birds given your employment,you should be well aware that people do not get allocated la housing of that size unless they also recive CB for the required number of children no matter how many days they have them.

Until a parent has lived with an adhd child they have no place in saying whether it exists or not. Walk in my shoes for the day then you will know.
Glitter am in same boat as you. One adhd zonked by 7 up at crack of dawn, the other hates noise, being touched and just will not sleep whatsoever and has sensory integration issues. If they shared a room they would kill each other!

Sock different rules apply to 'hard tolet areas' it is up to the discression of the housing officer.

My next door neighbours are in a three bed house, are working, no children.

Upuntil last month, a single man had a house in my road, he has now moved, whilst there are still flats available, his house and the onee next door remain empty.

I live infront of a private estate that should never have been allowed, to be built, the houses didn't sell for under 20.

The HA has purchased them and they stand empty, they do nothing but attract anti social behaviour, which in turn makes every house 'hard to let'.

I live on an estate of old LA houses, most now owner occupied. Those still managed by the housing association are almost all occupied by old people, usually a single person in a 3 bedroom house. No new social housing has been built in this town for 25 years.
It's easier and cheaper to wait for all the old tenants to die than to build them suitable flats and free up the houses for families.

plus ADHD often goes hand in hand with autism try getting a dx for both was a nightmare him sharing with the girls they weren't allowed to sleep by him

birds i know that,but thats the reason he got it not because hes a nrp.

sorry for jumping on that but saying things like that perpetuate nasty myths

do not get allocated la housing of that size unless they also recive CB for the required number of children no matter how many days they have them.

That isn't the case in Liverpool.

I have always said that we need regional policies on housing, as 'up north', this bedroom/under occupancy rule makes no sense and will not save any money, as flats are more expensive than houses.

Over the last few years, most of the block of flats, including high rise, have been knocked down, there is a shortage of flats,that is why the HA/Council have been awarding houses to 'under occupiers'.

When we got our letter in post I rang council and asked what provision had been made for disabled and carers. Guess what??? None.

i agree. but it also wont make much of a difference anywhere with regard to housing stock

chundle ive been telling people that for weeks and been told off because people dont belive the gov lied when they said disabled people who required carers were exempt

usual, you haven't explained whether/if you think that poor families will not benefit - will there not be people who are housed more appropriately than they are now (B&B/cramped conditions). Genuine question - I know little about this, and if there are genuinely no families who will benefit then do not support it.

I think it is a good idea, if the issues sockpixie identifies can be overcome. Particularly families with disabilities - how hard can it be just to exempt them? and foster carers. It would also be brilliant if it can only apply to new entrants, though I bet that wouldn't make the savings in the way they need it to. Also, they can only start deducting HB once a suitable (and I know this will be the sticking point) alternative has been found and refused.

Sock, I have epilepsy I require a carer my husband but that doesn't count. My doctor wrote a letter telling them we require an additional room for when I'm ill but under new rules that doesn't count for shit anymore either not even taking my two kids SN into account!! The gov have lied to us!!

Just adding my two pence worth.. I was brought up in social housing due to parents issues , my dad was abusive andmy mums seriously disabled. I shared a room with my ASD sister until this time last year. Due to her issues I had to regularly sleep on the kitchen sofa bed as she would lie and scream all night. She was very rigid in routine and thus I could never sleep early, always having to wait until she was asleep. I had no escape space , sadly she used to openly masturbate etc too.. She used to read my diaries to her classmates and painted my personal things with nail varnish.. I am now at uni but we were given a 3 room house so that I , and she, can have privacy and personal space. That is as far as I am aware an under occupancy as I only use my room at weekends and holidays. Can't imagine my mum coping with a rent increase and so if such things do happen it might well mean I end up on the sofa/sharing my mum's bed each summer!!

I've only claimed hb for two years since I had to Give up work for dd2 due to her needs and we really need the help. After years of working hard in well paid job I now need help and will be denied it

chundle the gov lied to everyone they did it to look like the vulnerable would be protected from this but as i have been saying for weeks (when i was handed a copy of the la guidence sheets) they bloody well are not protected from it.

fyi you could try a application via your hb dept for the discreationary housing fund. but if you get it you will have to reclaim every 3 months and it is first come first served.if you get awarded it once that wont mean you will get it again.