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Is anyone other than myself affected...
I am having to consider moving away from all my family and friends to move to another part of London losing all support to be able to pay rent under the new cuts.
Not just that, a lot of estate agents are no longer considering taking on housing benefit claimants because they now know that the claimants will now have to top up the rent to meet the standard area rent.
I have 11 days to find somewhere under the old rates otherwise I am thrown into the new rates.
Aargh.
I dont want advice really cos I know everything possible, just wondering if I am the only one here in this position?
Hi Lala
Welcome to One Space.
So what you are saying is that in your experience private rented property is going to be less available to people in receipt of housing benefit? Do you live in one of the more expensive parts of London at the moment, or is it that the "cap" on rentals for a family the size of yours is just too small? What is the cap you have been quoted?
I guess I do indeed live in one of the more expensive parts of london but I only do so because my family were too born and raised here. I didn't choose my grounds so to speak.
The caps are £290 for a 2 bedroom in inner north London. I am now looking for a one bedroom to squeeze me and my toddler in and even that is finding difficult. Even more surprising is my council told me to stay where I am and wait to be evicted so the council can house me... he assured me it would not be a 2 bedroom property but a 1 bedroom. I told them I didnt wish to do that and ruin my repor(sorry bad spelling) with the estate agent or the landlord.
Lala thats awful for you, is it legal for the council to rehouse you into a property that is too small? I thought that everyone was trying to move forward away from overcrowding not backwards, from what you are saying London in particular is going to have a huge rise is both overcrowding and homelessness.
It makes no sense at all to me.
I know.. it makes no sense.
There will be a rise in fathers separated from children, overcrowded homes, families being torn apart because they do not live together, children being torn out of their schools. Jobs will have to be left and the commute to the job will be more expensive.
I am planning on using all my income support to stay amongst my support.
It is as you say going to make things a whole lot worse for a lot of people have you asked your local council about the top up supprt fund thing, it is worth asking them, wonder how long it will be before someone takes legal advice and takes this to court? There has to be a good argumant here for people to be able to stay in their homes and near to family/support etc and as you say the absent parent might be a good one and because of this could be dinied a full part in their childrens lives due to distance/cost etc.
I really do wish you well, please let us know how you get on xxxx
Hi again Lala
Thanks for the extra info. So they are setting a weekly cap per "type" of property? in your case a two bedroomed one. It seems silly that the system would force people to have less space, as in sharing a bedroom and in practical terms whilst you can "maybe" share a bedroom with a little one, as they get bigger that is not ideal. Also if they are trying to encourage people to live in cheaper areas, how many of those areas have suitable housing for everyone to move to?
How much per week would that force you to pay in top-up rent if you stayed where you are?
I know you said you don't want any advice as you have investigated it fully, Lala, but anyone else in this situation, I would enourage you to contact our excellent 1-2-1 Money Advice Service in confidence. They will give you all the latest info and signpost you to any sources of help that may be available to support you
Hi there
I realise I sounded very defensive saying I didn't want advice, think I'm just stressed, They are setting a cap on the rate, per size of each property. In London the standard 1 bedroom is £800... a 2 bedroom is £1,200 in the most deprived area... further research shows that they want for claimants to live either in the worse poverty striken areas or get out of London and keep London as the elite part of the country breaking down the diversity that they claim they prize upon. Delving deeping you will see that the only part of the country this is affordable with these new caps is the North East of England where unemployement is at its highest in any part of the country.
For me I will be paying £240 a month (all my IS) on topping up rent to live in a 1 bedroom property converting the living room into a part bedroom for myself. I will then be using CTC and CB to get buy with bills/food. I WILL be struggling no doubt but I have to think about the bigger picture that it won't be forever.
I'm soon to start college in October I hope this will be a 4 year journey of getting an amazing job, possibly a man(LOL) and so we could share rent and so forth! Life is hard as a single parent isn't it!?
This is happening everywhere, I think. Someone I know isn't working and is claiming sickness benefit (sorry, I know it has a different name). Pays £425 a month rent for a 2-bed cottage, but has now been told they'll only cover the cost of a one-bed. £145 short a month...
Hi Lala,
Can I ask is your property a private rent or a council/housing association, if its a private rent, are you on the waiting list for the council/hosing associations?
It is no wonder you are stressed, do hope you can fight this, it is so unfair that as you rightly point out the are actually segregating people which does defeat all the work they have done in the past.
Please let us know how you get on xxx
Hello Lala
Wow, using ALL your Income Support, that will be so hard to live on CB and CTC, in fact do you think it is do-able? Is there any way you can get a small amount of work, you can earn £20 a week without it affecting your IS, and that would be a massive boon.
Hi LALA
this sounds really stressful for you, I wonder if you have considered house sharing? Before you screech 'NOOOOO' have a look at these:
http://www.movethat.co.uk/London/Forum/Single_Parents/
http://www.spacechildren.co.uk/index.php?p=viewpage&id=tos
I heard about them a couple of years ago and thought it sounded like quite a good idea, it means that you get a babysitter and perhaps in situ family!!
Although you are feeling really stressed it sounds as though you are being incredibly pro-active and please keep us updated. Have you got any further?
Anna, I think the house share is great for people who choose that but to think that for some single parents it wont be a choice but a sort of forced thing cannot be right. I can think of lots of negatives particularly with the idea of children being baby sat by strangers.
What about the children who are used to having their own space and own home surely this will be very damaging for them especially if its not what their parent really wants either.
I think the whole housing benefit thing needs looking at again urgently as it stands none of our children will be able to leave home till they are 35 unless they wantto house share or have fabulous incomes or worse still go into unsuitable relationships and become either pregnant or an expectant father, it seems very regressive to me.
I have noticed here that we seem to be having the start of a baby boom which is what I expected to happen.
This is not me saying I agree to this, I don't.
However, children are amazingly adaptable. My then 12 year old son adapted very well to having to share with his two brothers. I can honestly say that they have never complained about being "squashed" compared to what we did have, in this house.
I think these cuts are going to be devastating to so many people. Perhaps the finger, so some degree, needs to be pointed towards private landlords (this is from someone who got gazzumped when a private let had abeen agreed when we were homeless). Personally, I feel there are so many who are greedy and uncaring. I'm sure there are fabulous ones, just you never quite hear of them...
Hi sparklinglime,
I agree about children being adaptable when mine were little we lived in a much smaller house and at some points had 6 girls in one room in a double bed, 3 of the girls were my almost step children, very complicated to explain so wont bore you with the details!!!!!
The problem I have with this is that it wont be siblings sharing facilities it will be children sharing facilities with complete strangers, it just doesnt rest well with me, unless as I said it is the choice of the families to share then there isnt a problem as it would quite often be friends who you know and trust or at least you would hope so.
Agree with you about landlords but unfortunately the market dictates the rents and there is a huge demand for private rents therefore the rents will continue to rise, lets not forget that they are catering for the open market and dont have to take into acount restrictions of housing benefits, harsh but true.
....but the thing that occured to me is that if ALL Housing benefit claimants are having their allowances capped in a certain area then that surely should make rents fall? Yes there will always be people who can afford to rent without help but it is a numbers game, if half the rented properties are occupied by people on HB then surely the private landlord would rather get a reduced amount rather than nothing at all, from an empty property?
Hi Louise, it actually seems to having a reverse effect in that less and less landlords are taking people who need to claim housing benefit, there is a huge demand for privately rented properties from people who cannot at present access a mortgage so for every housing benefit recipient who cannt afford the top ups there is someone who doesnt need it ready and waiting to take over the property.
Would be very interesting though to see the acutal figures for this, London is I think going to have a huge rise in homlessness along with other areas where the private rents are very high.
Good point, more people in work are renting because of the mortgage situation......but then the people who can't sell their houses may have to rent them out and THEN we might see a lowering. It does not help the people caught in the middle of it all whilst these "market forces" play themselves out, however, and I am sure you are right about London
Hi LALA
Providing you are currently in receipt of Housing Benefit (HB),you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP).
These payments are designed to help bridge the gap between your Housing Benefit award and your actual rent and run for 13 weeks after which they they can be reapplied for.
to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment visit your Local Authority website (click on blue link to find it) where you should find the application forms and further information.
Definitely worth having a look at!
Debbie
Hi Lala,
I work for BBC London News and I would be very interested in talking to you about your situation. We're planning to film a report about Londoners affected by this housing benefit cap and your story seems to very interesting and typical of what a lot of other people are going through. Would you mind emailing me your contact telephone number so I can call you for a chat about it? victoria.sill@bbc.co.uk. Thanks so much. I look forward to hearing from you.
lala I`m not affected by this as I live up north but here people that are affected can apply to the council, cant remember the exact name of the fund but its something along the lines of housing assistance fund and from what I have read all councils have this and it is meant to provide a buffer for those who are going to struggle.
You wont be the only one I am sure, there will be lots of others who will find themselves in the same position, I think it stinks!!!!!! Do hope you find a solution xxx