Lee Jordan – Midlands Web Developer Web Development, Photography, Media Production, Social Media Collaboration and Marketing
I feel, being in the thick of the war being raged on us by the coalition government, that I should break my public silence about the hideous and outright unfair changes being made to housing benefit or as I know it to be; the Local Housing Allowance. These disastrous changes could see the vunerable turfed out of their homes, with decreasing opportunity to find a new home and I will explain why, we won’t be able to find new homes further down!
One group has been left out of the media coverage and it’s the group I belong to.
In a nutshell what’s happening?
Single and under the age of 35 in 2012. This group will NOT be allowed to have a one bedroom property after the new fiscal year. I have a sleeping disorder, but I will not be allowed to have a bedroom to sleep in! Forcing a Narcoleptic onto a sofa bed will spark a round of bad press from me of which you have never seen the like of; I can assure you of that!
London clouds the issue
For all the talk of people being turfed out of London, which has clouded a very national outrage; One group has been left out of the media coverage and it’s the group I belong to. Single and under the age of 35, not disabled (this is ongoing, that’s why I’m in court) without children. Now I’m not saying people with children don’t deserve the help, I’ve been accused of not thinking about other groups of people, so a childless couple or a couple with adult children would be in my boat too, but a couple would be entitled to a one bedroom rate whereas I’d still be stuck with the single room rate!
It’s government policy not only to drastically reduce housing benefit, but to drop the number of affordable properties available to the unemployed from 5 in 10 properties to 3 in 10 properties.
They keep saying I’ll only loose £10 a week, it’s sugar coating the truth!
I’m perhaps at the lowest end of the low here and stand to loose out considerably more than some other groups of people claiming LHA (the new name for housing benefit), I’ve already seen in the 6 months since I lost my job my rent shortfall increase from £10 a month to £155 a month; that shortfall is set to increase by £40 to nearly £200 in the next few weeks because LHA is being reduced to £80/wk. In 12 months that shortfall bewteen what I’m “allowed to have by law” and what my rent actually is, will eventually increase to £330 (and I have no income, no income support and erm no income), I’ll only be allowed to have £50/wk for a bed sit (a bed sitting room, *ahem* I have a sleeping disorder a sofa bed will not do). On top of that, by April 2012 I simply won’t be allowed to claim for a property with a bedroom, because the age at which you are allowed to claim for one bedroom is being increased to 35.
I haven’t been out of work for 10 years; Not even 10 months; Keeping my home is of fundamental importance in managing my sleep disorder.
If I loose my ESA tribunal (they want to reduce ESA claims but are forcing people onto ESA from Incapacity) and start to claim JSA and we are looking at 2012 here, when I’ll be 31 years of age and if I haven’t found work within a year of loosing my court case, I’ll automatically loose 10% of my housing benefit regardless of how hard I was looking for work; Further increasing the amount of money I somehow have to find from thin air to keep my home and be in the position to look for work.
This Time next year I will ONLY be entitled to a bed sit and I do repeat this very clearly, I will not be able to afford my own home, that’s homelessness, that’s why I’m so stressed.
While I understand that everyone relying on housing benefit to keep their home while looking for work will be facing these issues, I can’t help but feel ignored by the media coverage on this issue, while the coverage focuses on familes and “protecting the disabled and long term sick”, do I feel protected? Not on your life do I feel protected, I feel very threatened, on top of all that stress of trying to remain in employment that my illness created in the first place! It’s certainly not getting any eaiser and it’s getting harder to put a brave face on it. I am ill and the people who should care, don’t (not friends/family I’m talking about the organisations there to support you through long term illness). It’s wellfare but it aint well fair, and you can only learn that once you’ve been in it.
Why are they doing it and what will it create?
They are doing it to fund more social housing, they believe if you haven’t got a job you shouldn’t be allowed to keep the nice home that you’ve worked hard to create. They think that controlling housing benefits and not regulating private landlords is the way forward and they feel that they will solve a housing crisis, by creating one.
It would be like your mortgage lender withdrawing your payment protection or only helping you with 20% of the monthly cost of your home if you done your back in or something similar.
What will happen? More people will start moving, sometimes away from areas that can’t be afforded, there could for example be a mass exodus from central localtions to suburbs or equally, inward movement to already poverty ridden areas. Rents will rise anyway, but the increased demand for private housing while this wonderful social housing is being built, will drive rents high and not lower. They want to see rents fall, but the plans will have the opposite effect. Some people you know, may find themselves homeless, the government do not have a figure of how much homelessness may be caused by these changes.
So what can you do?
This isn’t just about single people under the age of 35 being made homeless, many of your friends, maybe even yourself will start to feel this from April.
I really hope the changes to LHA can be halted in their tracks, we won’t see the effects until 2012 and then it may be too late as even more crap is being piled on this time next year and in 2013. Think about this; The students who protested in London over EMA and Uni Fees, will also not be able to move even into rented accomodation, for a good many years to come, you think a generation accustomed to such violent protest, huddled together in overcrowded houses, relying on recreational drugs to escape this madness, will take this with a pinch of salt? Well they are the group being hurt the most by what’s going on and yet we’ve borrowed their money (future money) to deal with this issue. It’s a cycle that can only continue, unless we stand up for what our country is about, do we support people through hard times, or do we do sod all about it?
What kind of country do we want to live in?
Plan to join a civil war the likes of which are enjoyed in Tunisa, Portugal, Spain, Greece and well you get the idea, Egypt! As for a crime wave, you bet your bottom dollar, the lowest of the low will have to find an income from somewhere!
Lee has been involved with the web for over 10 years, working on a wide range of web projects and coming from a media background, a digital native with huge ideas of how each project can benefit from an online presence. Learn more about him and his work on the about page.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Brownhills Bob, Brownhills Bob. Brownhills Bob said: Bery strong blog here by @reelgonekid on housing benefit cuts. http://bit.ly/ii8UoL [...]