RESIDENTS are being urged to back Welfare Action Week by calling on ministers to rethink changes to housing benefit rules.
Erimus Housing is asking its residents to email Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud on the link below to oppose the changes that could push many local people into hardship.
The organisation is warning that many people could have to choose whether to get into debt or get out of their home if the Welfare Reform Bill, which is going through Parliament, comes into force.
Welfare Action Week is a national week of action starting on 10th October, organised by the National Housing Federation, the trade body for housing associations, to raise awareness of the harsh reality of the Government’s proposed welfare changes.
Under the Welfare Reform Bill, the Government is proposing to cut benefit for social housing tenants deemed to have a ‘spare bedroom’ – even if they have lived in the property for decades.
An estimated 670,000 people living in social housing who are of working age and claim housing benefit will receive an average cut of £676 per year.
It will hit people with disabilities hardest. Foster carers will lose out too, even if their ‘spare room’ is being used by fostered children.
Separately, the Government wants to scrap tenants’ right to have their housing benefit paid directly to their landlord. Removing the most convenient way for tenants to pay their rent is likely to lead to increased personal debt and arrears.
Currently, 55 per cent of residents from Erimus Housing and Tees Valley Housing, partners in Fabrick Housing Group, are totally dependent on housing benefit to pay their rent. A further 20 per cent need partial support to fulfill their rent commitments.
For every one per cent increase in arrears, the companies, which cover the North East and North Yorkshire, would together have £570,000 less to spend on essential services such as repairs.
Carmel Lumb, welfare support officer, says people on housing benefit do not want the extra responsibility of paying their rent themselves.
“They do not want that worry; getting all their money in one universal credit will be harder for them,” she explained.
“If their money comes in and they owe a lot out, what are they not going to pay? For people who are vulnerable, it is going to put them in a really difficult position.”
The Government is also proposing to introduce a cap on the overall amount of benefit that people can claim.
Families will be amongst the hardest hit as the cap takes no account of the huge variation in housing costs across the country.
As a result of the proposed changes, many tenants will have to choose between going into debt or moving away from work, family and support networks.
The policies are expected to be introduced in April 2013.
As a first step, Fabrick Housing Group has written to the Welfare Reform Minister, Lord Freud, calling on him to drop these changes.
Alison Thain, chief executive of the Group, said: “We are gravely concerned that these measures would severely adversely affect a vast amount of local people.
“The welfare of our tenants is a real priority for us and that’s why Government must reconsider these proposals immediately. They are a real blow for people on lower incomes.”
© Copyright 2010 Erimus Housing
