Post by Patrick Torsney on Mar 7, 2011 11:34:39 GMT 1
The British government is risking to force low-income families out of one third of local council areas with its housing benefits reforms, a study has found.
Leading charity Shelter and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) said in a report that the benefit changes will make many areas in England too expensive for low-income households to live, forcing them to move to areas of high unemployment over the next ten years.
Last month, the government introduced measures effective from 2013 under which housing allowances for private tenants increase based on consumer price index of inflation rather than rent prices.
According to Shelter and CIH, people on housing benefits will not be able to keep up with the housing costs in areas where inflation rate growth is slower than the increase in rents.
That makes some 34 percent of local council areas including the capital too pricey for those on housing benefits such as pensioners and disabled people.
"These changes will mean that the level of housing support that people receive will be based on the average increase in the price of random items like washing machines and a meal out, instead of the rents they pay," said Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb.
"As this takes effect, many people will see a big drop in their housing support, leaving them with a stark choice between rent arrears, eviction and possible homelessness, living in overcrowded homes, or moving across the country to an area where they can afford to live but where there are fewer jobs available," he added.
The report said the eastern part of England, East Midlands and the south-west will become increasingly out of reach for lower-income families to live.
The results of the study are especially worrying, as many housing benefit claimants will have to leave their jobs to move into more affordable areas of the country, triggering an unexpected rise in unemployment.
"These changes will undermine the government's own welfare reform ambitions to make work pay and to support people back in to jobs," said Sarah Webb, chief executive of CIH.
"You don't help someone back in to work by forcing them to move from neighborhoods where they have established support networks and make them move to areas with fewer employment opportunities, miles from the very support that can make work viable,” she added.
This article appeared on PressTV, Sunday March 6th 2011. See the original and visit PressTV, here:
www.presstv.ir/detail/168588.html