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Housing Benefit under occupancy Help

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  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,003 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    taking into account changes in council tax this 'modest shortfsll' is 1/7th of my total income.
    i only get low rate DLA, and under PIP, it looks like i will lose that. DLA is for the additional costs of being disabled. housing isnt a cost due to being disabled specifically...
    the only 'extra' i have is a gym memnership, that costs £21 a month . that will have to go. so i will be losing the only treat i have.
    now some poeple say tht when youre on benefits, you shouldnt expect to have any treats.
    possibly so, but when i cant better myself, and not through any choice ...its harsh.

    im looking forward to spending the rest of my time sat at home. its not a pleasant thought
  • nannytone wrote: »
    to be honest, nor do i.
    but that is where you are contradicting yourself.
    you say people need to free up the larger homes for families, but then youre saying that families dont need the larger homes as the children should share?

    its the official guidelines that say no child over 9 should share with a sibling of another sex, or that same sex siblings shouldnt share after 16.
    so the only people that might want my 2 bed flat are a couple with 1 child ... presumably they would have neen moved from a 1 bed ... of which there are none in my area.

    a teenage mother in my area would wait no more than 3 months for a house with a garden... thats why neither accepted my property ... they knew a house was around the corner!

    not only is there no property available to me to move into. there is also no one that wants my property ... apart from a single or couple who work.
    makes me wonder who should be a higher priority for social housing ....


    No I am saying if my children need to share a room that I pay for via a mortage why shouldn't benefit claimants.
  • Morlock
    Morlock Posts: 3,265 Forumite
    Changes already introduced via LHA have addressed this same issue in the private sector, but the comparative non reliance on LHA means that many can afford to under-occupy without recourse to the public purse.

    There is no guarantee that it will save any money. It relies on the unpredicted behaviour of social tenants either staying put, or moving in to the private sector. In which case, it will increase the proportion of claimants in the private sector, and push up the LHA bill, effectively costing more.
    Either way, 40% isn't to be sniffed at with 1.8 Million languishing on waiting lists.

    The policy at best will free up two-bedroom properties, 81% affected are under-occupying by one-bedroom. For a large percentage of those 1.8 million, a two-bedroom property is not suitable accommodation and many are living in areas where under-occupancy is minimal and over-occupancy is the problem.
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,003 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Certainly so, perhaps I am misguided here, but the only family I know with limited sight issues state that mum will be denied under a new regime and so not applicable very soon. I cannot say with certainty but they appear to be of the belief that their DLA will end. Perhaps this is a time to clarify and apologise if I am incorrect.

    exaclty.
    so i am looking at the possibility of losing a total of £59 a week out of a total of £140.
    do you still think im making it a bigger issue than it should be?
  • nannytone wrote: »
    taking into account changes in council tax this 'modest shortfsll' is 1/7th of my total income.
    i only get low rate DLA, and under PIP, it looks like i will lose that. DLA is for the additional costs of being disabled. housing isnt a cost due to being disabled specifically...
    the only 'extra' i have is a gym memnership, that costs £21 a month . that will have to go. so i will be losing the only treat i have.
    now some poeple say tht when youre on benefits, you shouldnt expect to have any treats.
    possibly so, but when i cant better myself, and not through any choice ...its harsh.

    im looking forward to spending the rest of my time sat at home. its not a pleasant thought

    The changes in Council Tax Benefit will effect all claimants, regardless of tenure, so you can't really include them. Your gym membership alone will more than cover the additional modest shortfall towards your rent and, whilst "looking forward to spending the rest of my time sat at home", you should be slightly cheered by the thought of all the room you will have to do it in.

    I'm sorry, but nobody can really expect to be isolated from all the harsh realities of life.... can they?
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,003 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 22 November 2012 at 1:06AM
    my shortfall in rent will be £13 per week! my gym membership is £21 a MONTH
    and yes i think we cam imclude council tax changes, as apart from the sick/disabled. all other groups aggected ware in a position to change their circumstances by finding employment.
    that is a door that is largely closed to seriously ill and disabled people.

    i agree with you regarding the room sharing ,,, so wht perseccuted people like me when its ok for the kids to share?

    protection from the harsh realities of life?
    how patronising can you be? dont you think i face the realities of a life far harsher than yours every day.... and thats usually before i even attempt to walk out the front door!

    when you think about it ... would you like to exist on £50 a week ( for thats all i'll be left with)
    having to pay all bills and eat ...
    in the short term it might be manageable.
    but consider having to do that for the rest of your life....
  • Morlock wrote: »
    There is no guarantee that it will save any money. It relies on the unpredicted behaviour of social tenants either staying put, or moving in to the private sector. In which case, it will increase the proportion of claimants in the private sector, and push up the LHA bill, effectively costing more.

    If they stay put, their HB is reduced thus saving money. If they move into the private sector, it frees up a move in the opposite direction for a household who could have been in receipt of a higher rate of LHA, thus saving money. It's a win, win.

    Morlock wrote: »
    The policy at best will free up two-bedroom properties, 81% affected are under-occupying by one-bedroom. For a large percentage of those 1.8 million, a two-bedroom property is not suitable accommodation and many are living in areas where under-occupancy is minimal and over-occupancy is the problem.

    The effect will not be limited to just 2 beds. In fact, it is more likely to be the bigger properties which are hit by the larger shortfall attracted by being 2+ beds short that will see more move on, meaning even more savings on LHA as larger families migrate out of private rent. Win, win again.
  • nannytone wrote: »
    exaclty.
    so i am looking at the possibility of losing a total of £59 a week out of a total of £140.
    do you still think im making it a bigger issue than it should be?

    Personally I never agreed with your own situation, but the friend of your daughter needs a reality check that sharing a room is a negative. People do this regularly. Parents sleep on floors 3 nights a week so NRP's can have children in 1 bedroom flats.

    Why do you not see I can distunguish between 2 claimants?
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,003 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    my friends daughter doesnt have a problem with the kids sharing a room.
    its the fact that she will have to move to accomodate it.
    her house is decorated and furnished and carpeted.
    all of which will have to be redone out of her own pocket.
    and at some time it is inevitavle that she will have to move again, as surely you dont think its ok for teenagers of the opposite sex to share unless there is no alternative?
  • nannytone wrote: »

    when you think about it ... would you like to exist on £50 a week ( for thats all i'll be left with)
    having to pay all bills and eat ...
    in the short term it might be manageable.
    but consider having to do that for the rest of your life....

    I'm not going to get into a competition over who's worse off than who, but you clearly need a new calculator...
    nannytone wrote: »

    so i am looking at the possibility of losing a total of £59 a week out of a total of £140.
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