Middle Income Earners Forced To Rely On Housing Benefit

The housing crisis is hitting middle-income earners at a shocking rate, with those relying on housing benefit to keep their home in spite of being in work rising by 350,000 since 2008 – a rate of over 58,000 a year, the NHF has revealed. New research from the report Broken Market, Broken Dreams, shows that middle-income households earning between £20,000 - £30,000 a year accounted for two thirds of all new housing benefit claims during the last six years, as the struggle to afford a home gets tougher.  With the proportion of households having to claim housing benefit despite being in work doubling to 22 per cent since 2008, the NHF predicts that this figure could rise to one in three in the next five years.  Read more on the NHF website.

Westminster Warns Johnson over Rent Levels

A flagship Tory council has warned Boris Johnson that his controversial housing plans will price out low- and middle-income families from living in central London. A letter sent to the mayor's housing adviser by Westminster council warns that under Johnson's plans to set "affordable rent" levels on planned new social homes in the capital at 80% of market rates, households would have to earn £58,000 a year to afford a one-bedroom flat, and £109,000 a year for a three-bedroom house. The letter warns that unless the council is given the power to set its own, much lower, rent levels low and middle income residents would no longer be able to afford to live in the area, threatening the diverse social mix of the borough. The gross median pay of Westminster residents is £40,000, although the council estimates that half of its social rented households have an annual income of less than £12,000. Read more on the Guardian website.