The housing minister Grant Shapps is fond of saying he would not support any policy that would lead to an increase in homelessness. So what will he make of the latest piece of evidence, published by a Conservative-controlled inner-London council, that suggests the government's housing benefit cuts will do precisely that? According to a paper drawn up by the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the impact of housing benefit caps will not only leave the council "unable to exercise its statutory responsibilities" under homelessness law, but will leave it facing the "unacceptable prospect" of having to place families in bed and breakfast accommodation. The council is in a tricky situation: it expects to have to find somewhere to live for around 1,000 families in the borough who will be made homeless by the capping of benefit payments from next January; but sky-high rents and booming demand for rental properties across this mostly salubrious piece of central London means it has nowhere to put them. Faced with the daunting prospect of having to acquire between 870 and 920 additional homes for its homeless residents in the next 12 months it says it finds itself in an "immediate crisis" of temporary accommodation. Read more on The Guardian website.
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