'Draconian' benefit caps to 'force families out of London'

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing

The man in charge of housing in one of London's most expensive boroughs fears benefit caps introduced by the Government will force people out of London.

Speaking to John Humphrys for the BBC's Future State of Welfare programme, aired last night, James Murray, executive member for housing at Islington Council, said the caps are going to have a huge impact.

"Because the caps the Government has imposed are so draconian, in somehwere like Islington they're going to have a huge affect in  creating a gap between the rent people are expected to pay and the cap," he said. "It means a lot of families will have to move; a lot of them outside Islington and even outside of London."

April saw the introduction of a cap on the maximum payments for Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates from £250-a-week for a one-bed home to £400 for a four-bed home. From 2013, a household benefit cap of £500 a week will apply to both private and social sector tenants.

The programme interviewed a family living in a four-bed flat in the borough costing £2,300 a month, of which most was made up from housing benefit. They were an example from the council of people who could be forced to leave the borough.

Mr Murray explained that because of a lack of council or social housing in inner London, families were being pushed into the private rented sector.

He said: "Part of the problem in Islington is that if you're on a low income and you have a family, the only way you can properly afford to live here, in a stable environment, is through genuinely affordable housing.

"That comes back to the fact we should have more council housing and more social housing in inner London. When there isn't that social or council housing available, people do then get pushed into the PRS where some of the rent is covered by benefits and the benefit bill does rack up."

A poll commissioned by the BBC, to coincide with the programme, revealed that 57% of the British public want those on housing benefit in expensive areas to be moved (29% disagree).

Islington has pledged to build nearly 2,000 social rented homes in the borough over the next three years.

It has rejected the Government's Affordable Rent programme, which sees housing associations able to let homes at near market rents.