Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Rate payer subsidised rent :confused: unless they're in receipt of some sort of benefit how are they subsidised?

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Prior to the 1980s it was not uncommon for councils to collect less in rent than it cost to maintain their housing stock. The maintenance costs were therefore subsidised by rate payments. There is an argument that this is fair enough, if well-off homeowners are subsidising the rent of those who need social housing because, for whatever reason, they can't afford to rent or buy commercially. However, when renting a council house was de rigeur for an entire swathe of the British working class population, thanks to the large number of council houses that existed, the existence of artificially low rents basically amounted to the large-scale subsidy of council tenants by private homeowners, regardless of whether there was a social need for it (often, there wasn't). Local councils were, in effect, involving themselves in the business of wealth redistribution rather than simply providing socially necessary local services.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Wow the rent must have been cheap if the council couldn't make a profit out of them over the life of the house and you'd think given that they'd have been really well maintained and not in need of the cash from right to buy being unlocked by labour to renovate what remained as they were dilapidated!

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

I remember going to one of the local council meetings in the early 1980's, the main topic of a heated discussion was the high levels of rent arrears. The highly subsidised council housing rent at that time made it far cheaper than having a mortgage. It always used to amaze me walking to school in my last year or so seeing council houses with nearly new BMW's etc parked outside, whilst my parents who had a mortgage couldn't afford such luxuries.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

May go some what towards explaining this, along with pensioner bribery.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2015/02/28.jpg

Not especially clear but Labour polling twice Tory vote in 25-44 age group, over 50% higher in 18-25, Tories well ahead in 65+.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Was out in London last night, the amount of homeless is worse than I've ever seen, on a night like that as well, can only assume how many were there due to cuts

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

I think that one of the original aims of Council houses was to provide affordable housing to the poor.

The day that Rent Rebates (Now called Housing Benefit) was introduced, I believe that all subsidies for council houses should have been stopped. My reason being that local taxation subsidised council house rents and income tax (at the time*) funded the Rent Rebate scheme. Why should taxpers pay twice? Why should those on a decent income get a subsidy? Those on a low income no longer needed a subsidised rent when Rent Rebates came into existence as the higher rents were taken into account when calculating assistance for a Rent Rebate.

* The Thatcher Government changed the Housing Benefit subsidy rules; effectively meaning that council tenants who paid their own rent covered the cost of much of the Housing Benefit paid towards the rent accounts of poorer tenants by way of increasing levels of rent to compensate the Housing Revenue Account for the loss of rental income from tenants deemed too poor to pay some or all of their rent.

This is one if the main reasons why council house rents rose so much to, in my opinion, a fairer and more appropriate level in the 1980's onwards.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Social housing rents are set using factors such as local income. A policy was introduced in 2002(ie under LABOUR) to increase the varying social rent levels in area UPWARDS until they were the same.
That 2012 target was extended by this government to 2015/2016, thereby REDUCING the annual rent increases.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Our council rent is still going up faster than inflation, and to increase the overall take, they are charging more and more for mandatory "other services" such as communal lighting, cleaning, gardening, garages, parking and "improving the area".

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

I thought all rents across the board were going up faster than inflation..:erm:

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

An interesting development about a Christian charity trying to stop the Bedroom Tax and the PIP rollout:

http://www.premierchristianradio.com...er-bedroom-tax

One of the comments states that some streets are now deserted and it has broken up communities.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

Obviously the councils are still offering 2/3 bedroom properties to people. and obviously if you take them you're subject to pay tax on the surplus bedrooms.
so obviously they can't afford to. so obviously don't accept them. so obviously they remain empty.

so obviously they're not getting any income on the empty properties.

Who didn't see that coming?

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

You'd have thought that if only 3 bedroom houses were available, that it would be deemed as 'using what's available' rather than 'choosing to live in a bigger place' and paying the tax and an exemption would apply.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

They were hoping that people would just pay the tax.
but all that's happened is they're increasing the homeless rate. reducing the income by having properties sitting there empty. and making David Cameron look more of a prat than he actually is.

it's madness.
if people can't afford to pay the tax then the properties will have to stay empty.

and some wally will say well they can't be that desperate for a home if they turn it down then.

Re: Torys to cut housing benefit of young
 

I completely agree. If someone on benefits is living in a home that is too large for their needs, especially if the taxpayer is paying for it; then it's perfectly reasonable to ask them to move to an available smaller property.

The problem is that there just isn't the housing stock to accomodate them and the Government were perfectly aware of this.

There are many reasons that councils put people in overlarge properties, some examples are:

- The majority of their stock was built for more than one person, this is as the number of people living alone increases.

- For many years many councils and Housing Associations would put eg a newly married couple into a property with extra space. The reasoning behind this was that they would probably have children and would 'grow into the house' without having to uproot the family, change schools etc.

- It is better for someone to take an overlarge property that is hard to let than let it stay empty. Not only do councils lose the rental income, but they have to pay Council Tax on empty properties.

- This Government has made cuts to other benefits that have impacted on the most vulnerable too. For example, Community Care Grants have been abolished. These, amongst other things, were introduced to help families who have to move eg moving costs, plumbing in appliances etc. Without them, disabled people, families under pressure etc simply don't have the resources to move. Even the Thatcher Government who scrapped the Single Payments scheme recognised that some sections of society deserved extra help and so Community Care Grants were born.

They have been put in a position where they can't afford to move or stay.

Taken together, this Government has created homelessness, death through malnutrition and even driven people to suicide.