So it would appear the government wish to push ahead with the benefit cap. The cap is to be set at a week, more than fair I would suggest. However because of this some people who live in what might be considered an expensive area may have to move into more affordable accommodation.
Surely this is just common sense?
On Monday the government revised up its estimate of how many households would be affected - from 50,000 to 67,000, although the amount of money they would lose was revised down from £93-a-week to £83-a-week.
The cap would be £500 a week, equivalent to the average wage earned by working households, after tax.
He rejected suggestions children could be pushed into poverty by the cap, saying that assumed families would not move house.
And he denied that some families would be left homeless, saying there was "no reason" why a family on £26,000 a year would not be able to find suitable accommodation.
Yes people living in expensive accommodation paid for by the benefits system does hurt and even some living in 1 million pound accommodation in areas of London, but there again, asking someone who through no fault of thier own is unemployed and needs help to move away from thier roots, thier family and thier friends isn't really nice either.
Perhaps there could be a clause to look at individual situations on appeal, If you have lived in a rented house in Chelsea for many years and fell on the hard times of the recession you are not quite the same as someone who moves into an expensive house for a week then declares themselves in need of benefit assistance. If you have lived in a rural area for a long time with little rented accommodation available and forced to rent somewhere quite expensive it is not quite the same as arriving in Westminster, renting a million pound flat then going on benefits.
Basically it is about spotting those that are abusing the system not punishing those that need it.
Should have been done years ago...............
It's worth remembering how it is that the current state of affairs came about, it being a direct consequence of previous Conservative govt policy in the 80s. The govt effectively decided that state-funded social housing ran contrary to their free market / personal responsibility ethos, and so they decided they would sell off social housing to those living in it at tax-payer subsidised prices, preventing councils re-investing the take in new housing, invite housing agencies to take some of it off their hands, and incentivise the private sector to pick up the slack by abolishing rent controls. Fine.
Now they find that 20 years later, thanks to a sustained housing boom in large part encouraged by govt policy, the free floating market rents they said were what they wanted are actually quite a bit higher than they maybe envisaged at the time, verging on unsustainable so what do they do? Punish tenants, like they're the ones responsible. Sorry, you might have lived here all your life with all your family and friends around you but I'm afraid you're gonna have to move to an area miles away from London or wherever cos unfortunately we've decided we don't want to pay what your landlords charging. It's not the landlord that's charging too much, it's not the fault of policies we put into place, it's yours, cos you were unfortunate enough to be born in an area that we're now intending be available only to better folk who can pay for the privelege out of their own pocket.
It's fucking outrageous. The govt are desperately trying to tell us the number affected will be minimal, but what it means is that families are gonna be forced to areas they don't know, with no familial support around them, and that can only lead to an increase in the kind of social isolation and exclusion that lies at the root of so many of the social problems everyone gets up in arms about. Course, any problems that arise won't be the govt's fault either will it, it'll be the fault of the individuals affected, and we'll do what we always do: beat 'em with the Criminal Justice stick when shit happens.
Howdy Neil, keep furtling.
Shirley Porter
The road to Wigan pier
all you need to know
Y'alright Ben? How's tricks? ;) Good post that wannit? I was pleased with it anyways, though I reckon only you and Staggers will agree with my analysis, but hey. :P
