Housing Benefit Bill ‘To Hit £71bn By 2050’

The housing benefit bill will rise to £71bn a year by 2050 unless levels of social housebuilding increase, an influential thinktank has warned. Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice’s (CSJ) housing commission predicts that half of that money will go to private landlords. People receiving housing benefit while living in the private rented sector cost the taxpayer 25% more on average than those living in social housing, researchers said. And they warned that affordable housing products – such as affordable rent, which can be up to 80% of market rates, or shared ownership – “will do nothing to reduce the burgeoning housing benefit bill”. Download the CSJ’s analysis.

https://omghcontent.affino.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/108/CSJ_-_A_SOCIAL_JUSTICE_HOUSING_STRATEGY.pdf