Affordable Rent Will Entrench Housing Benefit Dependency

The introduction of the affordable rent model could entrench housing benefit dependency, new research has revealed. A study carried out by East Thames housing group, which provides homes across east London and Essex, found that implementing the government's affordable rent policy would have the unintended consequence of actually increasing the number of benefit claimants across a number of boroughs. In Newham, one of the most deprived areas in the capital, East Thames found that rent at 80% of market level would vary widely between wards and even between properties in the same street, making the policy much more complex to implement than the current static social rent level across the borough. For Newham, even the wards with the slightest increase under affordable rent will face substantial increases in rental rates. Wards with more expensive market rates will see their rents more than triple under the model, increasing by as much as £233 per week. Read more on The Guardian website.