Freezing Local Housing Allowance is a denial of the reality of life for most people in Britain today
Local Housing Allowance, for some, is what keeps them from the streets – the streets that charities like Veterans Aid are trying to ‘rescue’ them from, says Dr Hugh Milroy, CEO Veterans Aid.
Homelessness is a consequence, not an inevitability.
Veterans Aid is an organisation that deals almost daily with loss of accommodation, hardship and importantly, the private rented sector. Indeed, a significant part of our 90% success rate is related to our ability to access affordable housing in the private rented sector.
Freezing this benefit is a denial of the reality of life for most people in Britain today. The sale of more social housing will only compound this problem.
When I read this I began to imagine that those holding the purse-strings or making such life-debilitating decisions are inhabiting some sort of parallel universe. Rents are rising…that isn’t the fault of the tenants so why are they being punished? Local Housing Allowance, for some, is what keeps them from the streets – the streets that charities like Veterans Aid are trying to ‘rescue’ them from.
Housing is simply not ‘affordable’ if paying for it reduces families to penury.
I appreciate that the Government’s £24bn housing benefit bill is worryingly high, but the answer is not to freeze allowances; it is to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.
It is immoral for any Government to create a system that increases levels of homelessness.
