housing benefit and social cleansing? what do you think?

[Tortington]

apps.facebook.com/theguardian/society/2011/oct/13/housing-benefit-legal-challenge-fails

Rent controls won't work. No business or private individual owns and lets properties for the good of mankind. They do it for profit. Rent controls will remove private landlords from the equation. The properties may then come up for sale making them more affordable to buy and also lowering the cost of housing stock but unless the local authority buys them up and becomes the landlord it won't solve the hb problem or the tenants immediate problem.

We have a glut of 2 bedroom flats and a shortage of family houses. I actually think that some of the problems might be solved by building lots of larger (executive style) family houses. These houses would be bought by families currently in smaller family houses which would free up the chain below for first time buyers and people wishing to start a family.

Rent controls won't work.

Dont agree, this is not the 50/60s a lot (not all) rented property was bought as a "buy to let" investment, they can hardly be left empty or the "owners" wont be able to pay the mortgages on them.

Many families would be very happy with a 2 bed flat.

cleansed of rich people...ha haa haa haa

The upper limit cap is less of an issue then the plan to peg HB to the bottom 30% of the rent market(rather then to the 50th centile, which it currently is). This will drastically limit the number of private properties available, and force claimants to make up the rent shortfall themselves.

There is also the total benefit cap of £25k a year. That would mean that a family with 3 children on benefits living in the armpit of London (aka Croydon) would face an income reduction of ~£50/week (assuming rent of £250/week, the 30th centile value for this borough)

The caps will work across the board. It doesn't matter if you move to a smaller property; you will still not be able to claim full Housing Benefit, and have to pay the rent shortfall yourself.

E.g. A 2 bedroom flat in Wandsworth will rent for £280-£400 a week. Even the very cheapest properties rent for more then the 2-bedroom cap. The 30th centile for Wandsworth is around £310 a week, £40 more then the £270/week cap.

people paying private rent have already "socially cleansed" themselves out of the crazy expensive parts of London. The rent bands are perfectly reasonable and there are still ample properties at those levels within zone 3. i don't see why anyone would support unlimited housing benefit when private renters must live within their means.

Can I just point out that this "landlords will reduce rents as HB decreases" thing is bollocks?

While mortgages remain hard to come by, people need to live somewhere, so there will be high demand for rental property.

Landlords won't be sitting with empty properties, because if it was a choice between living in an overpriced flat with the heating off, eating beans on toast, and being homeless - I know what I'd choose.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/no-room-at-the-letting-agent-uk-is-running-out-of-homes-to-rent-2371601.html

www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jul/15/rents-record-high-housing-demand

Which comes back to the real problem i.e. a housing shortage, especially in the SE of England. Which means we need a building programme, relaxation of the planning rules, commitments by councils to replace social housing sold with new social housing rather than trousering the cash.... those kinds of measures. We also need to start thinking more nationally about redistribution of population. Encouraging companies to relocate away from the SE in the same way as the BBC and government agencies by means of attractive local tax rules and incentive grants. Creative thinking rather than keep trying to squash everyone into a few overcrowded, overpriced counties.

Touching faith in 'The Market' by some posters. Also, LA's take responsibility for evictees post repossession of buy-to-let by giving a list of buy-to-let landlords. The only answer is council housing. The idea of moving to a new area is mad - if you have special needs kid, you need adapted housing, suitable school, known health care professionals, social workers, help from family and friends, etc. Is it reasonable to create that much stress and misery? Just control the rents. Simples.

If I couldn't rent my house out for a reasonable sum, which covered the upkeep (not the mortgage I hasten to add) then it would just stand empty until we are posted back to the UK.

so no one think it's conceivable that DSS landlords ask what they think the council will bear? it's been documented that they frequently charge more than private rental rates for this very reason. a cap will help put an end to that practice.

I think there is an argument for more social housing but I don't see why we should work our arses off to live somewhere nice when next door is subsidised.

"The new flats are around up 270K versus 180K for the older"... but where is this? A friend is about to relocate to the NE and has picked up a 3-bed semi for about £100k. Overpricing is very localised.

3 bed semi, ex council house for sale in my village. Anyone want to hazard a guess at the cost? North Essex is your clue.

Graciescotland Wed 19-Oct-11 08:50:11
"I think there is an argument for more social housing but I don't see why we should work our arses off to live somewhere nice when next door is subsidised."

are you sayibg that you agree to social housing - just not the section 21 stuff - the stuff thats built as a requirement on new builds by contractors cos they have to?

so you want it - maybe son a lovely green belt after the planning laws are relaxed, yeah lets do that

so, lets build 300 new houses out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields and give the streets names after flowers or trees.

oh wait, they did that post war...that ghettoisation, that building for the masses - that shove all the poor people in a corner stuff works well ...i mean they are surrounded by green fields and they live on laburnum road.

Nice to see we are "all in this together"

www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24000058-pound-120000-a-year-tory-tells-desperate-mother-to-live-in-real-world.do

i read that story last night. what on earth did she expect though? How could a councillor possibly intervene in a tenancy agreement between a private landlord and tenant? Everyone in London is seeing their rent go up - moaning to the government isn't going to change the market forces of demand outstripping supply.

what on earth did she expect though?

Maybe some advice...and a better attitude would be a start.
Nasty little man.

i don't know. he's not nice, agreed, but if i don't want stupid answers i don't ask stupid questions.

wow she asked for 'help and guidance' and that's a stupid question, Chandellina?

she shouldn't have bothered him up there in his ivory tower - he has enough to do.

As sinicalsal says....asking "where do I get advice?" is a stupid question?
Oh dear....