Sovereign Housing Group is backing Welfare Action Week by calling on ministers to rethink changes to housing benefit rules that could push many local people into hardship.
Welfare Action Week is a national week of action, starting on 10 October, to raise awareness of the harsh reality of the Government’s proposed welfare changes.
Hundreds of housing associations across the country will be participating in this week of action, which is organised by the National Housing Federation, the trade body for housing associations.
“Sovereign takes the welfare of our tenants very seriously and is concerned that these measures could cause considerable hardship for a lot of local people,” warned Sovereign Chief Executive Ann Santry.
Under the Welfare Reform Bill, which is going through Parliament, 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.
“The Government must reconsider these proposals. They leave tenants to choose between a rock and a hard place: get into debt or get out of their home,” Ann Santry said.
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.
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 and moving away from work, family and support networks. The policies are expected to be introduced in April 2013.
As a first step, Ann Santry and the Chair of Sovereign’s Group Resident Forum, AL Budd, have written to the Welfare Reform Minister, Lord Freud, calling on him to review these changes.
Sovereign is also suggesting to its residents that they contact their local MP to voice their concern about the planned changes.
“We are really concerned that the penalty for ‘under-occupancy’ will do very little to address the problem of overcrowding and could have very serious consequences for disabled people living in adapted properties,” said AL Budd. “It will also cost the taxpayer millions of pounds when disabled people’s new properties need adapting.
The Government should drop this punitive measure, as people will face a cut in their benefit even if they are not able to move to a smaller social home.”
“We feel as tenants that we should retain the choice of whether to have our benefit paid directly to our landlord. This will help people with their budgeting, reduce personal debt and the risk of going into arrears,” she added.
Ann Santry said: “Direct payment to landlords has been crucial for social landlords like Sovereign to access private investment at competitive rates, in order to deliver desperately needed affordable homes at good value to the tax payer.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
• To find out more about the Welfare Action Campaign, visit http://www.housing.org.uk/campaigns/housing_benefit_changes/welfare_action_week.aspx
• The Sovereign Housing Group is made up of four charitable associations: The Sovereign Housing Group Ltd; Sovereign Housing Association Ltd (incorporating Sovereign South+West and Sovereign Twynham); Kingfisher HVHS Housing Association; and the Vale Housing Association Ltd – plus their subsidiaries. Sovereign owns and manages over 33,000 homes across the south of England and our aim is to provide high quality homes, services and neighbourhoods where people want to live.
• If you would like more information, please contact Roy Probert, Public Relations Manager for Sovereign, on 01635 277406 or 07827 356479, or email roy.probert@sovereign.org.uk
