At least 10% Housing benefit cuts could be on the way

lisyloo

If 10% of Londons population migrated from London to other towns we would find almost 10% of Londons jobs move with them

You might find 10% of general jobs move e.g. hairdressing, teachers, supermarket workers, but you wouldn't find ballet, marketing, MP, government etc. jobs move.
So fine if your a plumber/hairdresser but not such a smart move if you work in investment banking.

I agree totally that the world wouldn't end, in fact I'd welcome it, but as we're in the latter category I'm not going to try it.
That's not because I think other pople should and we shouldn't it's for the reason given - the nature of the jobs will mean only some jobs will move.

NorthFin

poppy10 wrote: »

It was one of their key manifesto commitments so there's no way they will drop it just two months after the election. If they'd been in coalition they might have had to negotiate on it but now that they have an absolute majority they can do what they like. It's definitely happening.


The cap won't apply to people on DLA or PIP

Who will do all the min wage jobs in London? Where will they all live?

Who will fill up all the new properties being added to Londons supply and how will they afford the rent if total benefits are cut to £23K even for workers?


I can see average rents falling a long way, either that or a lot of empty properties in London.

jamesd

CLAPTON wrote: »

in which case, why haven't they already happened?

It already does happen to some degree but things like allowing non-students to live in student accommodation are inhibited by losing the tax relief that is only available for exclusive student occupancy.

jamesd

NorthFin wrote: »

Who will do all the min wage jobs in London? Where will they all live?

They will commute just as other people do. Lots of small studio flats - student pod type - can help to provide affordable accommodation for those who want to live closer to work. There already are flats available to buy for up to £50k within 40 miles of London. At £90k there's a one bedroom flat available to someone 60 or over and a little above that in-London flats start to become available to those of all ages.

NorthFin wrote: »

Who will fill up all the new properties being added to Londons supply and how will they afford the rent if total benefits are cut to £23K even for workers?

If the new supply is affordable it can be the minimum wage workers.

missbiggles1

NorthFin wrote: »

Who will do all the min wage jobs in London? Where will they all live?

Who will fill up all the new properties being added to Londons supply and how will they afford the rent if total benefits are cut to £23K even for workers?


I can see average rents falling a long way, either that or a lot of empty properties in London.

The benefit cap doesn't apply to those working enough hours to claim WTC.

missbiggles1

jamesd wrote: »

A possibly easy enough policy solution to this would be enhanced tax relief in designated areas for building "student" pod buildings for the singles on benefits. Including per-pod purchases within permitted investments for pension money would also help.

Permitting social tenants in student buildings would also be useful, at the moment there are reliefs that only apply if all tenants are students. 12 month margin to move on after ceasing to be on means tested benefits to allow reasonable transitions. The mixture of students and social tenants might help to reduce the chance of such places becoming solely benefits claimant ghettos.

A student pod is a small self-contained studio flat, ideal for lowish cost housing for a single person. Modern insulation and relatively small sizes mean that utility bills are relatively low, so ongoing costs that have to be paid out of benefits can also be lower than traditional rental properties.

Why should people on benefits be able to rent cheap, self contained studios while workers don't have that option?

Apart from anything else, only those over 35 would be able to claim enough LHA/HB to rent a self contained studio.

S0litaire

Think we should do what Germany did.

Restrict the ability of house builders to "sit" on land without developing it. So that areas of inner London, that are not sitting idle, get developed quicker or the government buys it back "below cost".

They can only buy new land once they have developed their current plots with a good percentage of "affordable housing" allocated to local council use.

That means they are constantly building new affordable housing which is better for the economy.

This enables smaller builders can get in on it as this opens up a LOT of idle plots in cities around the UK that would just be sitting on the books of the big companies.

This pulls down prices and rents in those areas.

Making it more affordable to rent in currently expensive areas like London.

I'd add in that:

Only first time buyers can get help buying and restrict the availability for others of mortgages over 75%.

Restricting buying council houses till their is a sufficient new stock to cover the loss. After that the local council getting automatic first offer (consisting of the original purchase cost + 3 times the rate of inflation) if the owner then sells on the property within 10 years.

That also would help to bring down the housing shortage in the UK in general.


discuss

Conrad

As soon as we get new tenant enquiries from South Eastern EU migrants we now know exactly what they will ask "do you take HB" to which the answer is always no. Some get fairly indignant and demand to know why and I get fairly spikey myself with comments emerging from me such as "I'm slaving away here paying taxes and don't get any HB myself, life is hard and a constant battle (sometimes to the point of mania / feeling on the edge), but I don't dream that somehow others ought to be paying me free money".


I'm pretty much sick to the stomach of the entitlement brigade unless they are VERY ill.

Killerseven

jamesd wrote: »

They will commute just as other people do. Lots of small studio flats - student pod type - can help to provide affordable accommodation for those who want to live closer to work. There already are flats available to buy for up to £50k within 40 miles of London. At £90k there's a one bedroom flat available to someone 60 or over and a little above that in-London flats start to become available to those of all ages.

If the new supply is affordable it can be the minimum wage workers.

Think about that last line, how can they be affordable to min wage workers. That would be one hell of a property crash, I can't see such a crash myself.

Killerseven

missbiggles1 wrote: »

The benefit cap doesn't apply to those working enough hours to claim WTC.

Talk is it will, everybody no matter working or not.

But this will really shake things up in London, if it happens.

Lots of families will have to move further out away from London, there will be lots of desperate landlords with empty flats and mortgages mounting up, but they will find it hard to find anybody to rent to, plenty who would like to live there but not many who can afford it without housing benefit ....