Homeless threat to South West families on Housing Benefit

Families in the South West are at risk of being booted out in the cold as a result of the forthcoming changes to housing benefit announced in the June budget.

The TUC’s analysis of the Emergency Budget published today finds that a whopping 83,180 households in the region will lose £520 each year.

The changes will hit tenants in private rented housing the hardest where rents are significantly higher than council house rates.

New restrictions will come into force in April 2011 and will include  bedroom entitlement dropping to four and a cap to the amount that can be claimed under the local housing allowance (LHA) at between £250 and £400 per week.

South West TUC’s Regional Secretary, Nigel Costley is concerned that despite the Chancellor promising not to hide or bury ‘hard choices’ in small print, this is not the case.

He said: “This cut in housing benefit will make a real difference to some of our poorest and most vulnerable families, and will affect tens of thousands of households across the South West.
 
“Families in rural areas as well as our towns and cities will all find themselves out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of pounds a year. This is at a time when the South West is already bearing the brunt of this government’s austerity measures.”

The National Housing Federation believe that the cuts to housing benefit will leave around 936,000 people in the country at risk of falling into debt or even losing their home.

The federation’s own analysis of those who are likely to lose an average of £624 a year under the cuts include 299,800 single parents, 178,000 people with disabilities and 308,000 low paid workers.