'Housing Benefit Reforms Create Risks for Most Vulnerable'

George Osborne’s emergency budget has brought some clarity along with significant challenges for tenants and the housing sector, according to Howard Farrand, the President of Chartered Institute of Housing. Speaking at the CIH annual conference in Harrogate, he said ‘The housing profession welcomes the prospect of reforms to housing benefit but believes some measures in the budget provide real cause for concern and could cause real hardship for some of the most vulnerable in our communities. “The changes to housing benefit are significant: they will impact on the ability of worse off families to live in more affluent areas, possibly forcing people to leave communities where they have lived for years and increasing pressure on social housing registers. They could also see landlords avoiding letting their properties to people who are in receipt of housing benefit due to the risk of housing benefit being cut. “In the social housing sector, with over 50 per cent of tenants of working age not in employment or training, this could place landlords in an untenable position – being asked to house the most vulnerable but facing the prospect of large scale arrears if someone's housing benefit is cut because they can't find work.’ “Linking housing benefit to the size of homes occupied could provide a spur to freeing up larger under-occupied social homes but will only succeed if there are wider changes in supply of housing otherwise it could be detrimental in particular for older people. “Finally, we also need to remember that the announcements only look at cutting costs, and that we can expect more fundamental reforms to come in future.” Read more on the 24dash website.