Fears that the government's radical changes to housing benefit could cause homelessness are well documented. Yet a rise in homelessness is not the only impact that welfare reform could have; from overstretched social services and worsening health to a disincentive to rent larger homes, the new legislation could leave the housing sector forced to re-think its working practices. The changes have yet to kick in – local housing allowance levels for new claims were set against the bottom 30% of rents and capped for each size of property from April, but this won't come in for existing claimants until January 2012 or when their claim is reviewed – so the effects will not be fully felt for some time. Councils are, however, already considering the potential ramifications. Some councils expect an increase in the number of large properties divided into bed-sits or houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) because landlords will not get additional benefit for homes larger than four bedrooms. "They are saying they won't provide five beds, they might convert them to HMOs, so where do the five bed families go?" asks Perry Singh, assistant director of housing at Brent council. He adds that the council will have to do more work enforcing housing health and safety standards if there is a growth in HMOs. There are fundamental concerns that benefit claimants will be forced into poor quality or overcrowded housing, which could in turn worsen their health. There are also fears that claimants may have to move too far away to commute to work, especially those working in the capital. So far there is little evidence of this, but one east London council is reported to have been looking for housing for a few households in Milton Keynes, Luton and Birmingham. Read more on The Guardian website.
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