Housing Benefit NEWSFLASH

Those places do exist already, in the form of bail hostels and specialist support hostels run by a variety of chairities, often with funding from the probation service. I trained a bunch of these hostel workers in Maidstone last week, a lovely committed bunch of people who are braver than me. NOt one of them was a pushover, they couldnt do their job if they were bleeding hearts.

The trouble is there isnt the funding for enough of these specialist units.

Journalists witter on about public sector cuts and people have little sympathy presuming they are simply talking about cuts to some loony left fringe group that nobody cares about but the truth is that these cuts affects units like those you suggest and that makes sociaety a far more dangerous place to live.

Back in the 1980s Thatcher ushered in ‘Care in the community’, a thinly disguised project to chuck people out of mental instituions and cut bills. I was working in a 1,200 bed direct access night shelter at that time and in the course of 6 months from that scheme being introduced I saw a massive demographic change in our centre’s users, from cuddly old tramps to people with a disturbing variety of mental illnesses. Violent incidents also rocketed during this time which was largely why I jumped ship and became a homelesness adviser for the council. I was getting too many black eyes for my liking and people were getting stabbed

Hi Ben
Due to the “incentive” the government are offering landlords to house ex offenders, they will be introduced into communities. They will be put into houses not just HMO’s. We work with charities and one in particular called homes for heroes, they house ex servicemen, some that are damaged, mentally and physically from war. I house around 5 of these guys personally and o e in particular struck a chord when I heard this new change in regulation. Jason was injured in Afghanistan when the helicopter he was in had to take evasive action when it came under fire. He was thrown from the aircraft and broke both his legs, his back and was medically discharged. He’s 33 years old and under the new regs would have to go in to a HMO style accommodation that would accept the shared room rate, despite him fighting for a country. Any one tell me that an ex offending murderer or rapist should be given an unfair advantage to get better accommodation that Jason???

Its the same point John that seems to be getting mixed up. Nobody is saying that the HB exemption is a reward for bad behaviour, it is simply an expedient that helps support workers manage a problem. I’m sure the offenders wont see it that way but we need to know where these people, who are still being monitored as a danger to society, can be tracked and controlled.

Bear in mind that for many, particularly predatory peadophiles, it is a condition of their release that cant share a home, cant live within a set distance of a school and for other violent offenders they have to live a certain distance away from their previous victims. The exemption to the new HB SAR rules is how we manage that.

As for your ex army guy. If he makes an application to the housing benefit’s Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) fund he may well find they will cover the difference between the SAR and the self contained rent level.

If you need a hand with the wording of an appeal letter let me know

What if we provided
these people with a self-contained detached (for noise control) “home”, however
it does not need to be bigger than the space a single bed takes up and a very
basic cooker and toilet plus wash basin.  
This should be able to be a lot smaller than most caravans, but will need to
be a lot better insulted then a caravan. 
(I don’t think there is a need to provide electivity,
as they could use a small touch, if the insulation was good enough and they were
small enough then it may be possible to get away without providing heating)
How cheaply could this be done, how many other
people would rather live in something like this then a room in a HMO?

Caravans, now there’s a thought! 😉

What I don’t like is that a 30 year old person that has
worked in a basic job for many years and then loses their job
is only allowed to live in a HMO, but a 40 year old person that has chosen to
never work is allowed to live in a 1 bedroom flat at our expense.

I think someone that has worked full time for
more than a given number of years out of the last 5 years should be able to get
more housing benefit.    Likewise people that have done the sensible
thing and saved should not be disqualified from housing benefit.

I have a severely disabled friend that is not
able to save up his mobility benefit for when he needs a new outdoors powered wheelchair,
as that would stop him getting housing benefit – this is just wrong!

What happens to someone in the middle of an
AST as the housing benefit will not cover the rent, but they can’t move
anywhere cheaper until the end of the AST?

I also can’t image how a blind person would
cope in a HMO, as someone will move something in the kitchen!  (I don’t think of a bind person as being severely
disabled, as I know blind people that cope very well with life and professional
jobs with no “care” support.)

I don’t know what we do about the sill high
number of girls that have babies so they can get their own flat, maybe we will
have to do something radical like compulsory adoption when the parents clearly
know they did not have the means to support a child.   I hope
there is a better option, but the present system of rewarding teenage girls for
getting pregnant with a flat (often their mother’s did the same) is not an acceptable
option with other services are having to be cut.

These are all hard problems with no easy options….

What I don’t like is that a 30 year old person that has
worked in a basic job for many years and then loses their job
is only allowed to live in a HMO, but a 40 year old person that has chosen to
never work is allowed to live in a 1 bedroom flat at our expense.

I think someone that has worked full time for
more than a given number of years out of the last 5 years should be able to get
more housing benefit.    Likewise people that have done the sensible
thing and saved should not be disqualified from housing benefit.

I have a severely disabled friend that is not
able to save up his mobility benefit for when he needs a new outdoors powered wheelchair,
as that would stop him getting housing benefit – this is just wrong!

What happens to someone in the middle of an
AST as the housing benefit will not cover the rent, but they can’t move
anywhere cheaper until the end of the AST?

I also can’t image how a blind person would
cope in a HMO, as someone will move something in the kitchen!  (I don’t think of a bind person as being severely
disabled, as I know blind people that cope very well with life and professional
jobs with no “care” support.)

I don’t know what we do about the sill high
number of girls that have babies so they can get their own flat, maybe we will
have to do something radical like compulsory adoption when the parents clearly
know they did not have the means to support a child.   I hope
there is a better option, but the present system of rewarding teenage girls for
getting pregnant with a flat (often their mother’s did the same) is not an acceptable
option with other services are having to be cut.

These are all hard problems with no easy options….

Now that’s a different tangent. Caravan, or “Trailer Parks” are very common in the United states and based on the numbers must significantly cut the level of homeless in the USA by providing an alternative to traditional housing.