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Kent-based homelessness charity Porchlight 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, organised by the National Housing Federation, the trade body for housing organisations, to raise awareness of the harsh reality of the Government’s proposed welfare changes.
Hundreds of housing associations and housing charities across the country will be participating in this week of action.
Mike Barrett, Chief Executive of the charity said: “As a charity helping some of the most vulnerable people in our society we take our service user’s welfare very seriously and as such we are extremely concerned that these measures could cause a lot of hardship for a lot of local people.
“The Government must reconsider these proposals immediately. They leave tenants to choose between a rock and a hard place: get into debt or get out of their home.”
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.
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.
As a result of the proposed changes, many tenants will have to choose between going into debt or moving away from work, family and support networks.
The policies are expected to be introduced in April 2013.
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