South West residents face homeless future with benefit cuts

Residents in the South West are under serious threat of homelessness due to cuts in housing benefit, warns charity Crisis.

The national charity for single homeless people are concerned that due to promised Government cutbacks there will be surge of people in the region drowning in debt and becoming homeless.

With cuts of £1.8bn to housing benefit announced in the emergency Budget, an impact assessment by the Department of Work and Pensions found that 83,180 households in the South West living in privately rented homes will be affected.

Housing benefit in the privately rented sector is known as Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and those claiming it will see an average drop in benefit of £520 per year.

Residents in Bath and North East Somerset are set to be hit the hardest with predicted cuts of £676 per year.

In Bristol, single people claiming LHA can expect to lose around £572 in the first year.

Chief Executive of Crisis, Leslie Morphy said: “As vulnerable private tenants see their income slashed they will inevitably fall into rent arrears or debt and face the spectre of homelessness. The Government must totally rethink these cuts now.
 
“Not only would a surge in homelessness cause damage for generations to come in the South West, it is also counter-productive. The costs to society of somebody who has lost their home are huge compared to keeping someone in accommodation.”
Shadow Work and Pension Secretary Yvette Cooper MP said: “These shocking figures show that tens of thousands of families will be badly hit by the Government’s plans on housing benefit.
 
“They include savage cuts for working people and pensioners who won’t be able to afford their rent and will push people into poverty and homelessness, which will damage our communities and cost us all more in the long run. “