Changes to Housing benefit how much will rents fall?

MrEnglish

silvercar wrote: »

A lot of people in receipt of housing benefit in expensive areas of London are people who are working. They only get HB because rents are so high, the rest of their income is from earnings. They don't get full rent paid but a help towards the high rents. They will be unaffected by the £500 cap.

I think you will find the majority qualify for working tax credit and child tax credit.

So my point remains, £500 total benefits cap will make families like this want to move away from London.

tomterm8

ukcarper wrote: »

But how many LibDem defectors would it take.

The coalition was set up so that the total number of LibDems in government is substantially higher than the number of Lib Dem votes that are needed to secure the government a majority.

Due to the way our democracy works, if you are in government and you vote against the government, you have to resign.

So, the short answer to your question is 'too many'.

Graham_Devon

It could be all changing now anyway...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11633163

Out,_Vile_Jelly

A question that occurred to me in light of this: I was made redundant about 7 years ago. I didn't sign on for various reasons (pride, horror of Croydon Job Centre, the correct expectation that I would get another job fairly quickly etc). Would I have been eligible to have had my rent paid through the benefit system during the 4 weeks I was between jobs?

ukcarper

tomterm8 wrote: »

The coalition was set up so that the total number of LibDems in government is substantially higher than the number of Lib Dem votes that are needed to secure the government a majority.

Due to the way our democracy works, if you are in government and you vote against the government, you have to resign.

So, the short answer to your question is 'too many'.

That's what I thought.

silvercar

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

A question that occurred to me in light of this: I was made redundant about 7 years ago. I didn't sign on for various reasons (pride, horror of Croydon Job Centre, the correct expectation that I would get another job fairly quickly etc). Would I have been eligible to have had my rent paid through the benefit system during the 4 weeks I was between jobs?

Goodness knows what the rules were 7 years ago, but in theory yes if you had savings of less than about £8,000 and you weren't still working out your notice period.

olly300

MrEnglish wrote: »

I think you will find the majority qualify for working tax credit and child tax credit.

So my point remains, £500 total benefits cap will make families like this want to move away from London.

If they move they won't have jobs, so why would they want to move?

Most of them would struggle on until the debt they get in becomes untenable.

doire_2

Looks like the cap will go ahead. Downing Street have denied any u-turn.

ukcarper

silvercar wrote: »

Goodness knows what the rules were 7 years ago, but in theory yes if you had savings of less than about £8,000 and you weren't still working out your notice period.

People think this is a new thing I know someone who was living in a very nice house on HB nearly 20 years ago.

novazombie

olly300 wrote: »

If they move they won't have jobs, so why would they want to move?

Most of them would struggle on until the debt they get in becomes untenable.

Unemployment will go up considerably there is no doubt.

But to try and reduce the huge housing benefit time bomb is much more important.

Its all very well sitting there saying "If they move they won't have jobs, so why would they want to move?" But what is the other option?

They could stay in London using nearly all of their 500wk to pay rent council tax and bills, maybe a little left over for rice and water just to keep them alive.

Or they could move far away from London (yes unemployment will go up) and have some money left over for proper food.