Homeless Charity Earns Agency £5.5m

A letting agency has been paid more than £5.5m in housing benefit after its owner set up a charity to help the homeless. Investing Solutions received those benefit payments over the past two years by finding properties for single homeless men. The charity, Fresh Start Housing, finds clients from London homeless charities. Neither the charity nor the company act illegally. Investing Solutions said "the bulk" of their rents get passed to private landlords, while Fresh Start said they referred clients to both Investing Solutions and private landlords. The letting agent makes money by putting several unrelated people in one house and charging housing benefit for each person, rather than the property. Therefore, the total benefit payout is higher than the rent fee passed on to the property's landlord. Read more on the BBC website.

Queen and Prince Charles Cash In On Benefits

Hard-up families struggling to cope with crippling rises in living costs are already angry that private ­landlords rake in thousands of pounds from housing benefits. But many will be even more furious to learn Prince Charles and the Queen are also making money from hard-up tenants who rely on the payments just to keep a roof over their heads. The pair receive tens of thousands of pounds a year in housing benefits that are paid by local authorities to landlords.  Charles’ Duchy of Cornwall Estate raked in at least £163,000 from a string of councils providing cash to households and the Crown Estate received at least £38,539 in housing benefit payments from just one town hall last year. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Council reclassifies homes and offers refunds to help residents hit by bedroom tax

More than 800 homes in Leeds are being reclassified by the city council to help residents cope with the bedroom tax. The local authority has sent 837 letters to households making them aware that the number of bedrooms in their properties are to be redesignated. The council says the welfare changes along with the need to ensure its stock is sustainable has prompted the move. Just under a third of the people in the properties that will be changed are affected by under occupation. Properties have been selected for re-designation on the basis of their build type, design and layout. In addition, any tenants that have lost out on their housing benefits through under occupation of these properties will get a refund backdated to 1 April 2013.