Councils to move LHA claimants out of London - Inside Housing

drc

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/housing-management/councils-to-move-lha-claimants-out-of-london/6512167.article

Councils to move LHA claimants out of London

22/10/2010 | By Isabel Hardman


Councils in London are arranging to move local housing allowance claimants into accommodation as far away as Hastings, following cuts to housing benefit confirmed in the comprehensive spending review.



London Councils revealed this week at a meeting of the work and pensions select committee that local authorities in central London have been block-booking private rented accommodation and bed and breakfast rooms in towns across the south of England.

The cuts to housing benefit, first announced in June’s emergency Budget, are predicted to hit private tenants in London hardest when they come into effect in April 2011. They include a cap on the amount of housing benefit payable per bedroom, and a move to calculating LHA based on the 30th percentile of rents in an area.

Nigel Minto, head of sustainable communities at London Councils, said: ‘Some central London boroughs have been doing block bookings in outer London because they know that they will not have the accommodation in the private sector.’

Mr Minto said the boroughs were booking rooms in towns such as Hastings, Watford, Slough, Reading and Luton because the rents in those areas are much lower than the average rates charged by central London landlords.

He said the councils were also starting to view bed and breakfast accommodation - normally used for short emergency stays - as a longer term solution to households presenting as homeless in their areas.

Families with children would be forced to remove them from school, and those claiming housing benefit as an in-work benefit would lose their jobs as a result of moving so far away, Mr Minto warned.

Research by London Councils has also found that landlords would not drop their rents if their tenants’ housing benefit is cut.

Alex Fenton, research associate at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, said he thought it was unlikely that rents in expensive inner-city areas would drop as a result of the cuts to housing benefit payments.

Californication

Research by London Councils has also found that landlords would not drop their rents if their tenants’ housing benefit is cut.

They say they won't, but to whom else are they going to rent their flee pits?

amcluesent

>but to whom else are they going to rent their flee pits?<

EEs, illegals, Mohammedans, ...

Californication

amcluesent wrote: »

>but to whom else are they going to rent their flee pits?<

EEs, illegals, Mohammedans, ...

All of whom will suddenly appear in the areas where the landlord's houses are when they evict the housing benefit tenants?

Where were those people before?

StevieJ

So we should expect a dramatic increase in unemployment levels in some outer London boroughs.

Malcolm.

Californication wrote: »

They say they won't, but to whom else are they going to rent their flee pits?

Key workers?

Jowo_2

StevieJ wrote: »

So we should expect a dramatic increase in unemployment levels in some outer London boroughs.

A modest change due to this transfer at most but doubt that it will have that much impact as small concentrations of people in a few boroughs in inner London on above average rates of JSA will simply be dispersed across a much wider geographical area.

Also, remember that many households receiving LHA are in employment, plus many tenants on benefits are workless due to being entitled to Income support (single parents with children under 7), state pension age or disability/sickness related benefits so don't appear in the unemployment statistics.

I wonder if we will see a modest increase in employment rates in inner London since the workless households would be replaced with those with jobs who were perhaps previously competing with those on more generous LHA benefits than those in work with less disposable income.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

loads of jobs in Hastings.

Arrow makers for example

vivatifosi

Mr Minto said the boroughs were booking rooms in towns such as Hastings, Watford, Slough, Reading and Luton because the rents in those areas are much lower than the average rates charged by central London landlords...

...Families with children would be forced to remove them from school, and those claiming housing benefit as an in-work benefit would lose their jobs as a result of moving so far away, Mr Minto warned.

I don't remember reading anywhere that there were loads of spare places in schools in Watford, Slough, Reading or Luton. How's that going to work then?

Malcolm.

vivatifosi wrote: »

Mr Minto said the boroughs were booking rooms in towns such as Hastings, Watford, Slough, Reading and Luton because the rents in those areas are much lower than the average rates charged by central London landlords...

...Families with children would be forced to remove them from school, and those claiming housing benefit as an in-work benefit would lose their jobs as a result of moving so far away, Mr Minto warned.

I don't remember reading anywhere that there were loads of spare places in schools in Watford, Slough, Reading or Luton. How's that going to work then?

Presumably, over time, those that commute into london from these areas will now be able to live closer to work. As properties are vacated, supply and demand will come into force, and someone will take up the vacated properties.

Short term there's to be a shift of population, a big upheaval for some, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

Shakethedisease

He said the councils were also starting to view bed and breakfast accommodation - normally used for short emergency stays - as a longer term solution to households presenting as homeless in their areas.

That doesn't sound good...