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Sheltered housing developments ‘shelved due to benefit cuts’
Women’s Aid, amongst others, firmly agree with you Martin on short-term accommodation.
Katie Ghose, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “The government’s proposed reforms to supported housing will dismantle our national network of lifesaving refuges and put the lives of women and children trying to escape domestic abuse at risk. This is a matter of life or death.”
Refuge staff and survivors of abuse told the Guardian that while they have a positive relationship with some authorities, others are less engaged. More than 10% of domestic abuse organisations receive no council funding.
The majority of women in refuges come from outside the authority, with some travelling hundreds of miles from the far reaches of England and Wales, for security reasons.
Councils can be reluctant to spend cash on those from other counties and are more likely to focus on local people, meaning a higher probability of a ring-fenced grant being spent on homeless or elderly people, Ghose said.
“If pursued, the reforms will result in a postcode lottery of domestic abuse support services, with further refuges being forced to close their doors and more women and children being turned away from the lifesaving support they offer,” she said.
Women’s lives at risk from changes to funding for refuges, say charities
Thanks Daphne.
Although the short term accommodatipn doesn’t affect many older people, this section from the policy position paper confuses me:
entirely remove short-term supported housing from the welfare system (Housing Benefit and the housing element in Universal Credit). However, an individual’s entitlement for help with their housing costs (through Housing Benefit or the housing cost element of Universal Credit) will be unchanged
This confuses me as well. Any ideas?
Maybe they are thinking of those in a refuge claiming on 2 homes….....?
Thanks Daphne.
Although the short term accommodatipn doesn’t affect many older people, this section from the policy position paper confuses me:
entirely remove short-term supported housing from the welfare system (Housing Benefit and the housing element in Universal Credit). However, an individual’s entitlement for help with their housing costs (through Housing Benefit or the housing cost element of Universal Credit) will be unchanged
I think I have finally worked it out.
Its a question of RIghts.
What they don’t want to say is that Homelessness People will not be allowed to claim housing benefits to pay for accommodation in a hostel, (as they do now) as that would be a serious infringement of rights.
What they don’t want to say is that Homeless people will be unable to hold a tenancy or a licence as they do now as that would be a serious restriction of rights. But if they don’t pay rent how will any tenancy or licence operate?
So what you have is this vague formula conforming the existing rights remain.
Maybe I havnt got it after all?
Homeless Link concerns
“One of the biggest concerns raised by the proposals is their impact on tenants. With no rent payments underpinning the relationship with their landlord, it is unclear what rights and protections people will have and the nature of their tenure. There is no reference to this at all in the consultation, which is a significant omission. Our panel of experts by experience raised concerns that it might become easier for providers to evict or exclude people from services. This introduces a substantial disparity with people resident in long-term accommodation under the new proposals.
A key part of preparing to move on is managing finances and rent payments and members are concerned the proposed model removes the opportunity for people to learn these important skills and demonstrate them to potential landlords. While the new system does enable people to move into work and offers a chance to save for deposits and furniture when moving on, these are substantial issues that need to be addressed.”
This lack of rental payment is causing unexpected headaches.
Former Pensions Minister Steve Webb appears unaware of government’s announcement that LHA will no longer be applied to social housing - http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-5439931/Does-bedroom-tax-affect-people-pension-credit.html
More recently, the government has decided to extend the scope of the measure to include pensioners who start a new tenancy after April 2016, albeit with a slightly different form of cap.
This will be based on something called the ‘local housing allowance rate’, which varies depending on what a private renter pays in different areas of the country. You will have to call your local council to find out how it applies to you.
Following a political row the government has delayed the measure but as things stand it is set to be introduced with effect from April 2019, to include new tenancies started from 2016.
I let him know through twitter and he’s replied to acknowledge that he’d missed this and will amend article, thanks for spotting Daphne.
This RN story might not sound much…..............
BUT the identification outlined is crucial to winning over LAs, Providers and the public that when (and if) the transition of the funding of short term supportted (under 2 year) housing finally takes place in 2020 it is fully and transparently funded.
‘From April 2018 onwards there will be a requirement for local authorities to identify housing benefit short-term specified accommodation cases when assessing new housing benefit claims or change of circumstances via local authority IT systems.’
We are actually going to measure how much we spend.
I welcome this.
This RN story might not sound much…..............
Here’s the story: https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/news/item/identifying-short-term-specified-accommodation-cases-when-assessing-new-hou
When is an interim response not really a response at all?
Not sure why they bothered with this ....
We are currently considering the views shared and we will publish a full formal response, including more details of the policy, in the summer.
Enjoy: Funding for supported housing - two consultations: interim response
Government has agreed to keep supported housing funding in the welfare system
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-supported-housing-funding-to-be-retained-in-welfare-system
... and the consultation outcome
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/funding-for-supported-housing-two-consultations
Hey its only taken 2 years of Paul whinging on about this for it to be dropped….........
Just Joking.
We now need to devise a better system of regulation for those cases that HB anorak identifies within his posts, where folks are not getting the support they need.
If only my whinging worked in such magical ways elsewhere…..
Two and a half years to get back to exactly where we started….
Happy daze,
And then you cut;
You cut it out,
And everything,
Goes back to the beginning.