Housing benefits for private landlords is almost doubled in a decade
According to the National Housing Federation, private landlords last year received £9.3billion, compared to £4.6billion in 2006.
It attributes this to the number of private tenants claiming housing benefit rocketing by 42 per cent.
There are a number of factors at play here, such as stagnant incomes, but ultimately it all comes down to one simple fact.
Not enough new affordable homes are being built in the UK. Rents and house prices have soared because of a crippling shortage of affordable housing in key areas, which sadly will only be exacerbated by the Government’s plan to extend its flagship Right to Buy policy.
The only way to fix the problems with the housing market is to build more homes and at a much faster rate than the sell-offs under Right to Buy.
More council homes need to be built, while the regulatory burden on social housing groups needs to be eased, helping them build more affordable homes.
Previous governments have failed to tackle the shortage, but this needs to be addressed urgently, as it has hampered economic growth by driving key workers away from certain areas and has stopped those on low incomes taking advantage of any improvement to their circumstances.
Prime Minister Theresa May must realise, we cannot afford to wait any longer.
0 comments: