Housing benefit 'myths' challenged
Friday, 20 August 2010 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
Government ministers' belief that the housing benefits system is 'out of control' is unjustified, a housing research charity has claimed.
The Building and Social Housing Foundation rejected welfare reform minister David Freud's recent claim that housing benefit is "really out of control, growing a bit like Japanese knotweed".
It argued the recent rise in housing benefit reflected the rise in working-age claimants during the economic downturn.
"No one doubts the need for reform of the housing benefit system but it is important to challenge these myths to avoid decisions being made in haste that we might come to regret," one of the BSHF report's authors, Jim Vine, said.
He said a long-term plan for reforming housing benefit could only be implemented after the short-term priority, preventing unemployment rising, has been dealt with.
"Once this has happened a long-term plan for a simpler and more sustainable housing benefit can be implemented."
The coalition government appears determined to press on with reforms of the current system, however. Chancellor George Osborne announced a "package of reforms" set to cut the housing benefit bill in the emergency Budget, including the punitive housing benefit removal "for working age claimants occupying a larger property than their household size warrants".
Additional plans to reduce housing benefit payments for those living in social housing which is too large for their requirements have also been announced.
BSHF warned that making cuts to housing benefit in a downturn risked increasing bills elsewhere.
"Short term cuts in housing benefit run the risk of creating significant social problems without even reducing overall expenditure," Mr Vine warned.
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