Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Inside Housing
Benefit campaign

Stories with this category.

  • Think tank calls for London welfare changes

    08/05/2012

    A think tank has called for welfare reforms to be altered in London to address the housing problems faced in the capital.

  • Locally sourced

    27/04/2012

    None of the candidates for London mayor have really addressed the problems highlighted by Newham this week, argues Stuart Macdonald.

  • Peer pressure

    27/04/2012

    The government’s welfare reforms faced a fierce opponent in Lord Richard Best as he battled to protect society’s poorest people. Carl Brown meets the staunch housing advocate to find out what drives him and what’s next on his agenda

  • A heavy price to pay

    09/03/2012

    Social landlords must adapt to benefit reforms if they are to continue to deliver effective services

  • Cuts prompt landlords to shun benefit claimants

    07/03/2012

    Private landlords are becoming less willing to let properties to people on benefits as a result of welfare reforms, England’s first Green Party council leader has said.

  • Last post

    01/03/2012

    And so, having ‘done this to death’, the bedroom tax and the Welfare Reform Bill have passed their final parliamentary hurdle.

  • Welfare bill to become law as Lord Best backs down

    01/03/2012

    The Welfare Reform Bill has completed its passage through parliament after Lord Freud appeased peers by promising to review the impact of the bedroom tax.

  • Crunching the numbers

    24/02/2012

    The votes are in: it looks increasingly likely that the bedroom tax is here to stay.

  • Cameron rejects call to correct private rents claim

    22/02/2012

    David Cameron has refused to correct his claim that private sector rents are falling despite research carried out by Inside Housing that proves the opposite is true.

  • Sent back

    22/02/2012

    So here is the predictable pong to the Lords’ ping: the bedroom tax amendment rejected in the House of Commons.

  • Fed warns bedroom tax vote will increase poverty

    22/02/2012

    The government’s rejection of proposals to protect vulnerable people from the bedroom tax risks pushing thousands of families in social housing into poverty, it has been warned.

  • NHF targets Lib Dem MPs in bedroom tax battle

    21/02/2012

    The National Housing Federation is urging people to tweet Liberal Democrat MPs to persuade them to support an amendment aimed at watering down the government’s controversial ‘bedroom tax’.

  • Calling in the movers

    20/02/2012

    The ‘bedroom tax’ is meant to encourage tenants to downsize if they are under-occupying their homes. But, especially in the north of England, social landlords say there are simply not enough smaller houses and flats to move tenants into.

  • Housing chief fires 'bedroom tax' warning

    17/02/2012

    The proposed ‘bedroom tax’ on underoccupied homes could create more problems if a lack of affordable housing is not addressed, a housing chief has warned.

  • Going spare

    17/02/2012

    The government’s contentious ‘bedroom tax’ on under-occupying tenants is set to become law this month. Alex Turner looks at the disproportionate effect it’s likely to have in the north

  • Setting the record straight

    17/02/2012

    An exclusive survey of more than 200 councils reveals Mr Cameron spoke out of turn when he claimed private rents were dropping. Carl Brown reports

  • The truth will out

    17/02/2012

    On 11 January David Cameron told MPs in response to a question on housing benefit that ‘[private] rent levels have come down, so we have stopped ripping off the taxpayer’.

  • Government urged to rethink bedroom tax

    16/02/2012

    The Chartered Institute of Housing has urged the government to make concessions to its plans for a ‘bedroom tax’ after the latest Welfare Reform Bill defeat.

  • Fresh plan to overturn new welfare amendments

    15/02/2012

    The government will seek to overturn the latest amendment to the welfare reform bill agreed by the House of Lords.

  • Net call

    15/02/2012

    The end game on the bedroom tax is going to be about more than just whether the House of Commons continues the parliamentary ping-pong.

  • Lords hand government new 'bedroom tax' defeat

    14/02/2012

    The government has suffered a fresh defeat over its plans for a ‘bedroom tax’ for underoccupying social housing tenants.

  • Lords in new bid to change 'bedroom tax'

    14/02/2012

    Peers will today try again to water down controversial plans for a ‘bedroom tax’ on underoccupying social housing tenants.

  • Side effects

    10/02/2012

    Welfare reform may be the biggest challenge facing the sector, but its nature is still uncertain.

  • Poll backs one spare room limit for tenants

    10/02/2012

    More than two thirds of Inside Housing readers think social tenants on housing benefit should be allowed to have one spare room.

  • A joint venture

    10/02/2012

    Recognition of the importance of housing is welcome, but can it be translated into action, asks Stuart Macdonald

  • Welfare reform calendar 2011 – 2013

    10/02/2012

    The Welfare Reform Bill is about to receive royal assent and will radically alter the benefits system. Now the government has beaten the Lords, Carl Brown explains why it is important that landlords prepare for the changes

  • CIH report evaluates welfare reform impact

    08/02/2012

    Proposed welfare reforms present serious challenges for the south east while a benefit cap may not be enough to incentivise people to work, a new report claims.

  • Government advisor warns of benefit cap harm

    07/02/2012

    Plans to cap benefits at £26,000 could harm vulnerable families and needs to be rolled out carefully, a government adviser has warned.

  • Final acts

    03/02/2012

    After months of wrangling the government looks set to get its way on the Welfare Reform Bill, says Carl Brown

  • Anger as government halts welfare bill changes

    03/02/2012

    The government has come under fire for seeking to use a parliamentary mechanism to prevent further attempts by the House of Lords to change the Welfare Reform Bill.

  • CIH president attacks IDS over homeless slur

    03/02/2012

    The new president of the Chartered Institute of Housing has criticised the work and pensions secretary for creating confusion around the definition of homelessness, in his debut speech.

  • Small mercies

    02/02/2012

    Yesterday’s events in the House of Commons have left me looking for some good news among the bad.

  • NHF attacks vote on 'unfair' welfare reforms

    02/02/2012

    A decision by MPs to overturn a series of Lords amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill will cause hardship for thousands of families, a housing body has warned.

  • Lords amendments to Welfare Reform Bill beaten

    01/02/2012

    The government has succeeded in overturning a series of crucial amendments made by the Lords to the Welfare Reform Bill.

  • Labour tables welfare motion as Shapps backs bill

    01/02/2012

    The Labour party has tabled a motion calling for the benefit cap to be set by an independent body according to local circumstances, ahead of a series of crunch votes on the Welfare Reform Bill today.

  • Under occupation cuts ‘would not deliver savings’

    01/02/2012

    Proposed cuts to housing benefit for under occupation would cause severe hardship for tenants and not deliver the expected savings, analysis has found.

  • MPs urged to support bedroom tax amendment

    01/02/2012

    MPs have come under pressure to accept an amendment to the government’s plan for a ‘bedroom tax’.

  • Tenants demand protection from welfare cuts

    30/01/2012

    Campaigners are calling on social landlords not to evict tenants who fall behind on rent payments because of housing benefit cuts.

  • Taking the strain

    30/01/2012

    Today is the 21st anniversary of perhaps the most significant statement in the recent history of housing.

  • Housing experts warn of homelessness threat

    30/01/2012

    The government has been warned that its plans for welfare reform are likely to have an impact on homelessness figures and increase the use of bed and breakfasts by local authorities.

  • Dunce’s cap

    30/01/2012

    If history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, then the politicians seem intent on doing both at the same time with the benefit cap.

  • Labour wants benefit cap to be set locally

    30/01/2012

    Labour has called for the proposed total benefits cap to be set locally rather than at the national limit of £26,000.

  • CIH: expect child benefit victory to be overturned

    27/01/2012

    The Chartered Institute of Housing is urging landlords to prepare for the consequences of the proposed benefits cap, despite a key defeat for the government in the House of Lords this week.

  • Landlords take 'bedroom tax' fight to MPs

    26/01/2012

    Landlords are throwing their weight behind a campaign to stop a ‘bedroom tax’ on tenants deemed to be underoccupying their homes.

  • PM attacks Labour for 'hypocritical' benefit stance

    25/01/2012

    David Cameron has accused Labour of ‘hypocrisy’ for voting to change the way the £26,000 total benefits cap is calculated despite backing the policy in principle.

  • Baroness attack on families branded 'nonsense'

    24/01/2012

    A housing association vice-president withdrew an attempt to cut benefit for larger families after a Labour peer accused her of talking ‘nonsense’.

  • Government to push through welfare reforms

    24/01/2012

    The government has vowed to fight on with its controversial plans to cap benefits after losing another House of Lords vote on the Welfare Reform Bill last night.

  • Defeat for government on Welfare Reform Bill

    23/01/2012

    The government has tonight lost another key vote on the Welfare Reform Bill

  • The other Bill

    20/01/2012

    As we gear up for more battles over the Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Lords, it’s worth remembering it’s not the only controversial Bill currently before their lordships that will have a big effect on housing.

  • Peer tables amendment for benefit cap exemption

    20/01/2012

    A Labour peer has called for the total benefits cap to not apply in cases where it puts a person at risk of homelessness.

  • Landlord vice president criticised over benefit plan

    20/01/2012

    A housing association has distanced itself from its vice president after she tabled an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill that would slash benefit for families with three or four children.

  • Missing contractual targets

    20/01/2012

    Housing benefit caps could put landlords providing rent collection services at financial risk says, David Isaacson, director at Cobbetts

  • Private landlords dismiss Cameron rent claim

    20/01/2012

    The leading trade body representing 1.2 million private landlords in the UK has dismissed David Cameron’s claim that rents are falling in the sector as a result of the coalition government’s welfare reforms.

  • Reaching critical mass

    20/01/2012

    Next week is a big one for social landlords across the UK and also for two Inside Housing campaigns.

  • Welfare amendments face government fight

    19/01/2012

    The government will seek to overturn all amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill when it returns to the House of Commons later in the year.

  • This old house

    17/01/2012

    This morning, I almost agreed with the government.

  • Shapps outlines plans for elderly downsizing

    17/01/2012

    Councils should help elderly people downsize in order to free up family homes, housing minister Grant Shapps has said.

  • Government has 'no plans' to change benefit cap

    16/01/2012

    The Department for Work and Pensions has said there are no plans to change the £26,000 cap on benefits despite calls from senior Liberal Democrats.

  • Hughes warns benefit cap will ‘break up families’

    16/01/2012

    The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has attacked the government’s plans to cap benefits as part of its overhaul of the welfare system.

  • Welfare reforms 'undermine' rights of children

    13/01/2012

    The government’s welfare reforms undermine the rights of children, the children’s commissioner has said.

  • Lording it up

    13/01/2012

    ‘The Lords is not like the Commons, they actually listen to what’s said before deciding how to vote,’ one peer told Inside Housing this week.

  • Peers launch second benefit plans rebellion

    13/01/2012

    The government is facing a second battle inside a month to get housing benefit reforms agreed by the House of Lords.

  • Local control

    11/01/2012

    It started with the bins, but now seems to be spreading to housing policy.

  • Housing groups condemn plan to end crisis loans

    10/01/2012

    Government plans to abolish parts of a fund to help vulnerable people have been slammed by 20 organisations.

  • Tax avoidance

    06/01/2012

    A dispute over the cost of amendments to the bedroom tax reveals the true motivation for the policy, says Carl Brown

  • NHF: ‘government inflated cost of benefit defeat’

    06/01/2012

    The government’s claim that its ‘bedroom tax’ defeat will cost taxpayers around £300 million in lost savings has been disputed by the National Housing Federation.

  • The end of the world as we know it?

    06/01/2012

    How will the social housing sector fare in 2012? Jess McCabe gathers a round table of industry experts to get their predictions.

  • Benefit caps to make 800,000 homes unaffordable

    04/01/2012

    Caps to housing welfare payments that come into force this week will contribute to 800,000 private rented homes becoming unaffordable.

  • Bedroom revolution

    23/12/2011

    The dust is settling on the government’s defeat over its plans for a bedroom tax for underoccupying social tenants.

  • Lords love-in

    16/12/2011

    Inside Housing today received a picture of Lord Richard Best surrounded by a pink heart with the words ‘Love You’ above it.

  • DWP anger at defeat of bedroom tax

    16/12/2011

    A Department for Work and Pensions source reacted angrily to the government’s shock House of Lords defeat over welfare reform.

  • Review of the year

    16/12/2011

    What a year. From the economic doom and gloom to the summer’s riots, social landlords have had their work cut out over the past 12 months. Here, Inside Housing looks back at the highs and lows

  • Bedroom tax 'defeated' in the House of Lords

    14/12/2011

    The government has been defeated over controversial plans for a ‘bedroom tax’ for social housing tenants deemed to be underoccupying their homes.

  • Crucial vote on bedroom tax imminent

    14/12/2011

    Housing organisations are lobbying peers ahead of a crucial Lords vote this evening on controversial plans for a ‘bedroom tax’.

  • Social control

    12/12/2011

    Councils and the government are taking a hard line on making the best use of existing social housing stock.

  • Landlord offers tenants cash incentive to downsize

    12/12/2011

    Tenants living in under-occupied homes are being offered cash incentives to downsize by a housing association.

  • Tenants face £26 a week cut for under-occupation

    09/12/2011

    Social tenants on housing benefit who are deemed to be under-occupying their homes stand to lose up to £26.65 a week under government plans.

  • IDS hints at rethink over ‘bedroom tax’

    09/12/2011

    The government could be set to water down its controversial plans to introduce a ‘bedroom tax’.

  • The new face of regulation

    09/12/2011

    In his first interview since being appointed chair of the new housing regulator, Julian Ashby tells Carl Brown what the future holds for the sector.

  • Debt advice could save landlords £50 million

    05/12/2011

    Housing associations should invest in debt advice programmes to avoid evictions and tackle homelessness, a new study claims.

  • Spending cuts blamed for rising benefit bill

    02/12/2011

    Housing bodies have blamed swingeing government spending cuts for adding nearly £2 billion to the cost of housing benefit over the next five years.

  • Lord Freud resists benefit cap amendments

    28/11/2011

    Welfare reform minister Lord Freud has faced more questions in parliament from peers worried about the proposed benefit cap for workless households.

  • Benefit threat to human rights

    25/11/2011

    Whitehall plans to cap benefit for workless households could violate the Human Rights Act, according to legal advice obtained by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

  • Landlords told to pick their battles over welfare

    23/11/2011

    Labour’s former welfare minister has told housing associations that they need to pick their battles if they are to have any influence over the government’s wide-ranging welfare reform plans.

  • Freud rejects change to calculation of cap

    22/11/2011

    Welfare reform minister Lord Freud has indicated the government is not willing to change the way the proposed £500 a week cap on benefits for workless households is calculated- but has promised measures to ‘ease the transition’ for families.

  • Can they fix it?

    21/11/2011

    It must be trebles all round in the boardrooms of the major housebuilders as they celebrate the details of today’s housing strategy. Where does that leave the rest of us?

  • Bishops call for benefit cap to be revised

    21/11/2011

    Bishops have called on the coalition government to alter its controversial welfare reforms.

  • Direct payment warning

    18/11/2011

    Paying housing benefit direct to tenants will cost councils in Scotland £50 million, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has warned.

  • Benefit warning to 'under-employed' tenants

    14/11/2011

    Employed tenants could have their housing benefit cut if they do not work enough hours and do not look for more or better paid work.

  • CIH: ‘more capital subsidy is vital’

    11/11/2011

    The Chartered Institute of Housing has slammed government housing policies, saying they ‘carry considerable risks’ to future financing for social landlords.

  • Deadline for direct payment pilot looming

    08/11/2011

    The deadline for social landlords wanting to apply to take part in the Department for Work and Pensions direct payment of benefit pilots is today.

  • Hearts and minds

    02/11/2011

    Some might say about time too but it’s still good to see some Lib Dem influence on housing at last.

  • Organisations back welfare amendments

    01/11/2011

    Housing organisations are backing calls for changes to the way the government’s proposed benefits cap is calculated.

  • Going spare?

    28/10/2011

    The Welfare Reform Bill must include a more reasonable definition of underoccupancy

  • OK computer?

    28/10/2011

    The government has a bad reputation when it comes to implementing new IT systems. So can its plans to deliver the universal credit online work or are critics right to be concerned? Carl Brown investigates

  • The write stuff

    28/10/2011

    Figures published on Monday by the Ministry of Justice showed three-quarters of those charged with offences related to the summer’s riots were under 25.

  • Peers want universal credit IT reassurance

    26/10/2011

    Peers have asked for reassurances that a new IT system which will underpin the implementation of the new universal credit will be monitored to prevent it failing.

  • Scottish minister attacks benefit reforms

    21/10/2011

    The secretary for capital investment and infrastructure in Scotland has hit out at plans to reform the benefit system.

  • Taking the tough option

    21/10/2011

    An effort to persuade the government to allow tenants to opt to have their housing benefit paid to their landlord predictably failed last night.

  • Government rejects direct payment amendment

    21/10/2011

    Peers have failed in a bid to give tenants the right to have their housing benefit paid direct to their landlord.

  • Housing Benefit and Daylight Robbery

    20/10/2011

    Is a modern version of the Window Tax about to return to England?

  • Lords debate underoccupancy benefit cut

    19/10/2011

    Peers have called on the government to save social housing tenants with spare rooms from having their benefit cut if there is no other accommodation available.

  • Government faces calls to review direct payment

    18/10/2011

    The government will come under pressure to review its plans for direct payment of housing benefit in parliament today.

  • Council holds summit to tackle underoccupation

    14/10/2011

    A council has launched an operation to try to reduce the number of residents on its waiting list by tackling the issue of underoccupied homes.

  • Scotland hits out at welfare bill

    14/10/2011

    The Scottish Government has criticised Westminster for asking it to vote through controversial changes to the welfare system without ‘enough information’ to pass the reforms.

  • MPs attack coalition welfare plans

    13/10/2011

    A communities and local government committee report on the coalition’s Welfare Reform Bill has called for councils to retain administrative responsibility for housing benefit.

  • Peers called on to amend direct payments

    13/10/2011

    Housing groups have called on the government to accept an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill which is due to go before Peers this afternoon.

  • Benefit changes to hit poverty, report claims

    11/10/2011

    More than a million children and adults will be pushed into poverty by 2013 according to a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

  • Here's hoping

    10/10/2011

    What are the chances of last-minute concessions on the Welfare Reform Bill?

  • Northern tenants to be hit for £146m with reforms

    10/10/2011

    Plans to penalise 240,000 families across the North of England for renting a home with a spare room will cost social housing tenants £146.12 million a year, the National Housing Federation has claimed.

  • Nat Fed starts 'week of action' on welfare bill

    10/10/2011

    Social landlords are backing the National Housing Federation’s campaign to force a rethink of the government’s controversial proposal to cut housing benefit.

  • Northerners 'mugged' by welfare bill says Fed

    03/10/2011

    The National Housing Federation’s regional head, Derek Long, has claimed that Tory proposals to cut housing benefit to under occupiers would leave 250,000 tenants in the north of England out of pocket.

  • Landlords fear benefit changes

    30/09/2011

    Welfare reform is the biggest concern facing landlords, according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Housing.

  • Lib Dem peers call for increased benefit caps

    30/09/2011

    Rebellious Liberal Democrat peers are demanding that benefit caps are increased by more than £5,000 a year.

  • Labour opposed to underoccupation cut

    28/09/2011

    The Labour Party has said it would not have introduced cuts to housing benefits for people deemed to be underoccupying their home.

  • Campaigners demand choice on direct payment

    27/09/2011

    A group of organisations has called on the work and pensions secretary to allow tenants to have their benefits paid directly to landlords.

  • Mencap study identifies housing shortage

    27/09/2011

    Adults with a learning disability may be forced to live with their parents long into their adult lives due to a lack of suitable housing, according to research.

  • Universal challenge

    23/09/2011

    Six pilot schemes will test direct payment of housing benefit to tenants. Here, Nick Duxbury leaps into the future to reveal to welfare reform minister Lord David Freud what the results might be

  • Village voice

    22/09/2011

    It all sounds so simple the way Steve Webb tells it. What could be fairer than a housing benefit bill that will be the same at the end of this government’s time in office as it was at the beginning?

  • Time for clarity

    20/09/2011

    Lawyer Jonathan Hulley will urge ministers to rethink plans for direct payment of housing benefit at the Liberal Democrat conference today, here he explains why

  • Reforms to halt construction of larger homes

    19/09/2011

    A provider has warned that a raft of reforms to social housing could stop housing associations building four-bedroom homes.

  • Homeless households rise 17 per cent in 12 months

    16/09/2011

    The number of homeless households will continue to rise as the economic downturn and benefit reforms bite, according to new research.

  • Test the benefits

    16/09/2011

    The announcement by work and pensions minister Lord Freud this week at the National Housing Federation’s annual conference that he is launching six pilots to test the introduction of direct payment of housing benefit to tenants was a definite plus.

  • Struggles ahead

    15/09/2011

    There are some big housing battles still to come as the Welfare Reform Bill moves to its committee stage in the House of Lords but few signs yet of the movement the government has shown on direct payment of housing benefit.

  • Direct action

    14/09/2011

    The concessions on direct payment of housing benefit announced by Lord Freud are welcome news. If only the same could be said for the rest of the Welfare Reform Bill.

  • Second thoughts?

    13/09/2011

    As peers prepare for the second reading debate on the Welfare Reform Bill, there’s some startling new evidence that completely undermines the government’s rationale for cutting the local housing allowance (LHA).

  • Lords called on to amend welfare bill

    13/09/2011

    A housing body has called on the House of Lords to make amendments to the welfare reform bill in a bid to stop thousands of families being hit financially.

  • Alliance lobbies for landlord pay option

    09/09/2011

    Private and social landlords have formed an alliance with tenants to challenge the government’s housing benefit reforms.

  • Seeing things clearly

    09/09/2011

    Simon Hughes is not one to shy away from fiery debate. Here, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats reveals his take on last month’s riots to Lydia Stockdale.

  • Benefit reforms will lead to arrears

    08/09/2011

    Government plans to stop tenants opting to have their housing benefit paid directly to their landlord could lead them to fall into arrears, a housing association has said.

  • Pressure groups plan campaign against rent rises

    08/09/2011

    Two pressure groups are planning a campaign against government cuts to benefits, increases in rents and changes to tenure.

  • Benefit cuts to widen rich-poor gap

    02/09/2011

    Reforms of the housing benefit system are likely to heighten the gap between Britain’s richest and poorest areas, according to academics.

  • City threatened by £8 million benefit cut

    31/08/2011

    Thousands of families in one of the UK’s biggest cities are facing a cut in housing benefits worth £8 million, an MP has claimed.

  • Voters to desert Lib Dems over housing benefit

    22/08/2011

    A fifth of Liberal Democrat voters are set to desert the party over the coalition government’s welfare reforms, a new poll claims.

  • No room for manoeuvre

    22/08/2011

    Affordable rent isn’t affordable. That seems to be the message emerging from studies into the impact of the government’s new regime.

  • Affordable rent to drive up benefit bill

    17/08/2011

    Research has found affordable rent will make homes unaffordable for more than half of households in some parts of London and drive up the housing benefit bill.

  • Family values

    15/08/2011

    David Cameron’s idea of a family test for all domestic policy is a good one. How about starting with some of his own policies?

  • Rents rise as cuts bite

    03/08/2011

    Memo to Iain Duncan Smith: the index you used to justify your housing benefit cuts says private sector rents are now at an all-time high.

  • Millions of pounds released for housing benefit support

    02/08/2011

    Millions of pounds of funding has been released by the government to help councils deal with cuts to housing benefit.

  • Turning the tables

    29/07/2011

    Whitehall plans to reform supported housing have raised the spectre of providers begging their own tenants for cash. Martin Hilditch reports

  • Direct question

    28/07/2011

    The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) is posing a scary question with fundamental implications for landlords, tenants and the government: can lenders continue to fund social housing?

  • Missing link

    28/07/2011

    There was an intriguing glimpse into the Labour rethink of the welfare state on Newsnight last night, one dominated by images of something that was barely mentioned by anyone in the programme.

  • Welfare changes to increase homelessness

    25/07/2011

    Benefit reforms will increase homelessness in Stoke on Trent and lead to an exodus of private landlords, a report has found.

  • Court hears DWP failed race equality duties

    22/07/2011

    The Department for Work and Pensions failed to have regard to race equality duties when implementing benefit reforms, the High Court heard today.

  • No more support

    22/07/2011

    With all the political theatrics which unfolded in Westminster this week you’d be forgiven for missing the government’s latest plans for housing benefit reform.

  • High Court to hear housing benefit challenge

    21/07/2011

    A High Court challenge against the legality of housing benefits cuts is due to be heard today.

  • Housing benefit reform legislation delayed

    15/07/2011

    Legislation that will allow controversial reforms of housing benefit to go ahead has been delayed until the autumn.

  • Case for the defence

    11/07/2011

    Ministers have given their most detailed response yet to the warnings about the consequences of benefit cuts in the Pickles letter.

  • Peers in plot to fight benefit cap

    08/07/2011

    Labour peers are to challenge government plans to cap benefits.

  • Family income too low to live off with Universal Credit

    05/07/2011

    The introduction of the Universal Credit could leave working families trapped in a situation where their income is well below what they need to live, a new report claims.

  • Mark their words

    04/07/2011

    The leak of the Pickles letter comes after a year of claim and counter-claim about the impact of benefit cuts on homelessness. Here’s what the government has said so far.

  • Dunce’s cap

    04/07/2011

    The leaked letter from Eric Pickles is shocking on so many levels that it’s hard to know where to begin.

  • Pickles letter fuels calls for benefit rethink

    04/07/2011

    The government is facing calls to rethink its approach to housing benefit reform after the private secretary to Eric Pickles warned the policy will increase homelessness and cut house building.

  • Pushed out

    01/07/2011

    Changes to the shared accommodation rate will force thousands of vulnerable people out of their one-bedroom flats and into houseshares. Emily Rogers investigates the impact

  • Councillors oppose housing benefit cuts

    29/06/2011

    More than half the Conservative and Lib Dem councillors in England oppose government changes to housing benefit, a survey reveals.

  • Top to bottom

    28/06/2011

    The impact on private finance has understandably dominated the debate about direct payment of housing benefit so far but it’s just one of the issues facing social landlords and tenants.

  • Benefit changes to hit one in five tenants

    27/06/2011

    One in five Scottish tenants will lose income as a result of benefit changes, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations has warned.

  • Explore new territory

    24/06/2011

    Welfare reform is a good opportunity for private landlords to get involved in the social housing sector

  • Money on the move

    24/06/2011

    The introduction of a universal credit has left landlords wondering if benefits will bypass them and leave rent unpaid, says Jules Birch

  • Going spare

    21/06/2011

    The more the implications of the cut in housing benefit for under-occupying social tenants sink in, the less it makes any kind of sense.

  • MPs’ pledges

    17/06/2011

    A year is a long time in politics. Twelve months ago this group of MPs pledged to do their bit for the housing sector, but have they delivered? Lucinda Dunseath finds out

  • People power

    17/06/2011

    In one sense, the headline finding from our exclusive poll with Ipsos Mori this week that three in five people oppose housing benefit cuts if the result is increased homelessness is good news.

  • Right out of left Field

    17/06/2011

    Frank Field is a Labour MP with right-wing views. He’s also the coalition’s poverty czar. Here Lydia Stockdale finds out what he thinks of its housing benefit reforms

  • Seaside slum

    17/06/2011

    New caps on housing benefit will force tenants out of higher-rent areas and into places like Margate’s Cliftonville. The area is already deprived, so how will it cope with the influx? Photography and words by Simon Brandon

  • Government under pressure to rethink emergency fund cut

    16/06/2011

    Charities have put more pressure on the government to rethink scrapping an emergency fund for vulnerable people.

  • Charity calls for welfare bill delay

    16/06/2011

    A charity has called for the Welfare Reform Bill to be put on hold until the government properly explains how the universal credit will work.

  • Speaking out of turn

    15/06/2011

    When is a u-turn not a u-turn? As the retreats on the Health Bill and weekly bin collections dominate the headlines, it’s tempting to see evidence of similar climbdowns on welfare reform. I’m not so sure.

  • Ministers to consider paying housing benefit direct to landlords

    14/06/2011

    Government ministers have reassured housing providers that they will consider paying housing benefit directly to landlords following a debate last night.

  • Ups and downs

    09/06/2011

    The first month of the housing benefit cuts saw private sector rents rising across the country and soaring in London and the South East, according to a survey out today.

  • DWP criticised for ignoring localism drive

    09/06/2011

    MPs have criticised the Department for Work and Pensions for ignoring the government’s localism policy when developing its benefit reforms.

  • Charity wins fight to take government to court over benefit reforms

    03/06/2011

    The government will be forced to fight for its controversial housing benefit reforms in court, after a child poverty charity won the right to challenge their legality.

  • Leading lights

    20/05/2011

    As the government prepares to shake up the benefits system, social landlords must help their tenants

  • Capsize warning

    19/05/2011

    The benefit cap may have made it through the Welfare Reform Bill committee but the fundamental problems with it are not going to go away so easily.

  • Campaigners fight under occupancy cut

    18/05/2011

    Housing and disability campaigners have joined forces to fight against proposed cuts to housing benefit for people who under occupy homes.

  • Lib Dems demand changes to workless benefit cap

    18/05/2011

    Liberal Democrat MPs have demanded the government re-think its plans for a cap on the amount of benefits workless families receive.

  • Benefit cap for unemployed survives committee vote

    17/05/2011

    The government’s cap on the amount of benefits that a workless household can claim has survived a vote by MPs.

  • Report tries to allay direct payment fears

    13/05/2011

    Increased use of ‘jam jar’ bank accounts could ease concerns about ending direct housing benefit payment to social landlords, a Treasury-backed report has indicated.

  • Take a stand

    13/05/2011

    Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg this week called on his party to ‘take a long hard look at ourselves’ and deliver a more ‘muscular liberalism’ following the ‘bloody nose’ given by voters.

  • Tenants fight under occupancy benefit cut

    12/05/2011

    A group of housing association tenants have launched a campaign calling on the government to scrap plans to cut housing benefit for claimants who under occupy their homes.

  • Concern grows over benefit cap

    10/05/2011

    A think tank set up by Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has expressed serious concerns with the government’s benefit cap for workless families.

  • Must do better

    10/05/2011

    Devastating? Highly damaging? Warnings about the introduction of the £500 a week cap on total benefits are nothing new - but this one comes from somewhere uncomfortably close to home for Iain Duncan Smith.

  • Election results are a call to action

    09/05/2011

    In the wake of disastrous local election results the Liberal Democrats must adopt a tougher line on housing policy, argues Steve Hilditch

  • Cutting their losses

    09/05/2011

    If the election results are going to make the Lib Dems more assertive they will get plenty of opportunities on housing and welfare reform over the next few weeks.

  • Under pressure

    04/05/2011

    April 2013 may seem like a long way off but yesterday’s committee debate on the Welfare Reform Bill offered a glimpse of the scale of the problems the housing benefit cut for under-occupiers of working age in the social sector is going to cause for tenants and landlords.

  • Give tenants the choice

    04/05/2011

    Alan Ward, chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, claims the government’s housing benefit policy will hurt private landlords and their tenants.

  • Labour MPs attack benefit cut for underoccupiers

    04/05/2011

    Labour MPs have failed in their bid to stop housing benefit cuts for social tenants who underoccupy their homes.

  • Academic to lead review of housing benefit cuts

    03/05/2011

    A top housing academic will lead a review of cuts to housing benefit, the government has announced.

  • BME tenants ‘get a raw deal from benefit cuts’

    28/04/2011

    Housing benefit cuts will disproportionately harm black and minority ethnic families, according to the first study to assess their impact on the BME community.

  • Workshy benefit claimants to keep housing support

    27/04/2011

    Benefits claimants who turn down a job will not lose their housing benefit or child benefit payments, the welfare minister has said.

  • Benefit change ‘will make young homeless’

    20/04/2011

    A homelessness charity has warned there are not enough properties to accommodate young single people whose housing benefits are cut.

  • Benefit cut for underoccupiers 'will not save money'

    05/04/2011

    The government will spend more money than it saves by cutting housing benefit for social tenants who underoccupy their homes, Labour’s housing benefit spokesperson has warned.

  • Housing minister releases charity CD with The Clash

    01/04/2011

    Housing minister Grant Shapps is to release a charity version of The Clash’s ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ to publicise the government’s housing benefit reforms.

  • Lack of smaller homes for housing benefit changes

    28/03/2011

    Social landlords do not have enough smaller properties to accommodate tenants whose housing benefit is cut because they are underoccupying their homes.

  • Planning reforms drive social inequality

    23/03/2011

    Housing and planning reforms could lead to greater social inequality, a report has warned.

  • Direct payments would harm credit ratings

    22/03/2011

    A leading ratings agency has warned that housing associations’ credit ratings will suffer if the government decides to pay housing benefit direct to tenants.

  • Scotland faces welfare reform problems

    18/03/2011

    Housing benefit and welfare changes could cause huge administrative problems for Scotland, a consultant has warned.

  • Shadow minister in row over 'anti-muslim' claims

    18/03/2011

    Labour’s shadow housing benefit minister is embroiled in a political row after saying the government ‘don’t want Muslims living in central London’.

  • Government rethinks broad market rental areas

    18/03/2011

    The government plans to recalculate local housing allowance to prevent claimants who face losing their home having to move long distances.

  • Meet the bankers

    18/03/2011

    With government grants drying up, banks will be key to filling the sector’s funding gaps. Nick Duxbury asks which lenders housing finance directors should get to know

  • Terms of reference set for benefit review

    15/03/2011

    The government has set out the terms of reference for an independent review of housing benefit cuts.

  • DWP considering impact of direct payments

    11/03/2011

    A senior Department for Work and Pensions official has admitted proposed changes to the way benefits are paid could harm social landlords.

  • Blow as Scottish homeless figures rise

    11/03/2011

    The Scottish government is insisting that councils are on track to eradicate homelessness by 2012, despite evidence showing a rise in homelessness applications.

  • Landlords face increasing legal challenges, warns tenants' champion

    11/03/2011

    The introduction of flexible tenancies and housing benefit changes will increasingly lead to legal challenges from tenants, according to Cora Carter.

  • Dawn of a new era

    11/03/2011

    Government reforms will create a fairer system which puts the needs of communities and tenants first, says new columnist Grant Shapps

  • Richer tenants to be targeted

    11/03/2011

    Housing associations are considering only letting affordable rent properties to tenants who can afford to pay the rent without help from housing benefit, the Chartered Institute of Housing has warned.

  • Taking the strain

    10/03/2011

    Grant Shapps is not the only one who can’t square the circle between housing and housing benefit.

  • Tory policy will create fairer system for tenants, says minister

    10/03/2011

    Housing minister Grant Shapps has vowed Conservative policies will create a fairer system for tenants in his first column for Inside Housing.

  • IDS promises help to families hit by benefit cap

    09/03/2011

    Families hit by the government’s £26,000 benefits cap for workless households will receive ‘intense’ help to prevent them losing their homes, the work and pensions secretary promised today.

  • Landlords 'must get used to non-direct payments'

    09/03/2011

    Social landlords have to prepare themselves for not getting direct payments of housing benefit, the deputy chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing has said.

  • Benefit cuts will make 30% of England unaffordable

    08/03/2011

    Housing benefit cuts in the Welfare Reform Bill will make a third of England unaffordable to low-income families, research has found.

  • Housing benefit caps face legal challenge

    07/03/2011

    Anti-poverty campaigners have launched legal action against the government’s plans to cap housing benefit from April.

  • Liam Byrne to lead Labour welfare review

    04/03/2011

    Liam Byrne is to lead a review of Labour’s policy on welfare reform focusing on getting people back into work.

  • Direct approach

    04/03/2011

    Paying housing benefit to landlords will help retain lender confidence and ensure more homes are built, says Joanna Till

  • National survey shows housing benefit rise

    25/02/2011

    The number of households receiving housing benefit has increased, according to government statistics.

  • Banks ‘need clarity’ on payments

    25/02/2011

    Private finance for the development of homes for affordable rent could be derailed unless the government resolves how housing benefit will be paid to social tenants, lenders have warned.

  • Fighting talk

    25/02/2011

    It would be wrong to call it a phoney war - tensions between housing professionals and the government have occasionally risen to the surface in the past 10 months. But this week the gloves are well and truly off.

  • The way ahead

    25/02/2011

    Iain Duncan Smith’s visit to the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow nine years ago inspired his radical welfare reforms. Last week the work and pensions secretary’s vision took its first step towards reality. Isabel Hardman investigates what the Welfare Reform Bill means for social landlords

  • Third of tenants face underoccupancy cut

    18/02/2011

    Cutting housing benefit for working-age tenants who underoccupy their homes will affect around a third of those living in social housing, the government has revealed.

  • Welfare reforms will limit direct payments

    18/02/2011

    Social landlords will only be able to claim direct payments of housing benefit for vulnerable tenants, the Department for Work and Pensions revealed last night.

  • Private landlords to lower rents

    18/02/2011

    More than half of all landlords in Hammersmith & Fulham are expected to drop their rents in line with the government’s housing benefit cuts.

  • The big challenge

    18/02/2011

    David Cameron threw down an interesting challenge this week during his defence of his big society project: he called on housing associations to be more entrepreneurial and innovative.

  • Totting up the bill

    17/02/2011

    Don’t celebrate the u-turn on the housing benefit reduction for the unemployed for too long or you’ll get knocked down by all the other cuts speeding down the road towards you.

  • Social landlords win direct payments battle

    17/02/2011

    Social landlords will continue to receive housing benefit payments directly under the government’s new welfare reforms.

  • Government revises benefit cuts for unemployed

    17/02/2011

    The government is expected to change a controversial cut to housing benefit when it reveals sweeping reforms to welfare later today.

  • Benefit reforms to create more HMOs

    16/02/2011

    The pensions minister has said more large properties could be converted into houses in multiple occupation as a result of benefit reforms.

  • Scottish benefit claimants to lose £80m

    14/02/2011

    Low-income households in Scotland will lose more than £80 million in support because of the UK government’s housing benefit changes, a report has warned.

  • IDS stands by benefit cuts for unemployed

    09/02/2011

    Cutting housing benefit for unemployed people will encourage them to return to work, the work and pensions secretary has claimed today.

  • Benefit cuts to hit 130,000 jobless families

    07/02/2011

    Proposed cuts to housing benefit for the unemployed will hit more than 130,000 households, a study has found.

  • Benefit to go direct to tenants

    04/02/2011

    Social landlords could lose their battle to keep housing benefit paid directly to them instead of their tenants.

  • Capital gets largest slice of benefit fund

    02/02/2011

    London councils will receive the lion’s share of a fund to help struggling housing benefit claimants pay their rent, the welfare reform minister said today.

  • Reforms prompt calls for welfare devolution

    31/01/2011

    The Scottish Government is seeking control of welfare and benefits policy after calculating the impact housing benefit reforms will have in the country.

  • Lobbyists win welfare review

    28/01/2011

    Critics who claim the government’s controversial housing benefit reforms will lead to an increase in homelessness are to use an independent review to force ministers to re-think cuts.

  • Benefit reforms could halt all payments

    27/01/2011

    Charities have warned the proposed universal credit system could result in families losing all their benefit payments while one component is re-calculated.

  • MPs oppose benefit cuts for unemployed

    27/01/2011

    More than 50 MPs have signed a petition calling for the government to drop plans to cut housing benefit for the unemployed.

  • Golden age

    25/01/2011

    Labour must find alternatives to the government’s housing reforms

  • Review to assess impact of benefit cuts

    25/01/2011

    The government will set up an independent review of the effects of housing benefit cuts, the welfare reform minister has announced.

  • Lords seek to block housing benefit cuts

    24/01/2011

    Peers will tonight debate whether to scrap the government’s housing benefit cuts.

  • Avoiding the benefit trap

    21/01/2011

    A new initiative is helping youngsters on benefits get back into work by offering them low-cost rental accommodation. Lydia Stockdale finds out how the scheme works

  • Cause and effect

    21/01/2011

    Each year the Chartered Institute of Housing’s UK housing review analyses the trends in social housing. Here Hal Pawson, Steve Wilcox and John Perry give a sneak preview of this year’s report, which looks at the impact major government reforms will have on the sector.

  • Play the system

    21/01/2011

    Labour-led councils can use the coaltion’s social housing reforms to forge their own agenda

  • Review assesses effect of benefit caps

    21/01/2011

    The government’s £26,000 cap on the benefits a workless family can claim will provide ‘strong incentives’ to return to work, a new report suggests.

  • The flaw in the plan

    21/01/2011

    Welfare reforms may be well-intentioned but they appear to be near impossible to implement, argues Jeremy Swain

  • Affordable rent could add £1bn to benefit bill

    14/01/2011

    The government’s plans for a new ‘affordable rent’ tenure could add over £1 billion to the housing benefit bill.

  • What’s your vision?

    14/01/2011

    Thirty-six years in social housing gives me a long perspective on the greatest changes. The 1974 Housing Act created the housing association sector in its present form. The 1980s saw the introduction of the right to buy, compulsory competitive tendering, stock transfer, shared ownership and private finance.

  • Housing benefit cuts endanger Scottish homelessness pledge

    13/01/2011

    The Westminster government’s controversial housing benefit reforms risk scuppering Holyrood’s pledge to end homelessness in the country by 2012.

  • A new year erupts

    07/01/2011

    Are you ready for another explosive year? To stop you getting lost amid the shifting landscape, Lydia Stockdale has the essential guide to the months ahead

  • Northern Ireland to be hit by benefit cuts

    24/12/2010

    Northern Ireland will be disproportionately hit by tax and benefit reforms, research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has revealed.

  • Minister says benefit cuts ‘unsupportable’

    22/12/2010

    A Liberal Democrat minister has been caught describing cuts to housing benefit as ‘deeply unacceptable’.

  • MPs question housing benefit savings

    22/12/2010

    A cross-party group of MPs has questioned whether the government’s housing benefit reforms will deliver the intended savings.

  • Campaigners stage cardboard city protest

    21/12/2010

    Campaigners staged a protest outside Downing Street last week to fight against a range of reforms to social housing.

  • Labour loses housing benefit fight

    21/12/2010

    Labour’s bid to derail the government’s controversial housing benefit reforms has ended in failure.

  • Benefit cuts to drive up child poverty

    17/12/2010

    The government’s cuts to housing benefit will push 100,000 children into poverty, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

  • There is an alternative

    17/12/2010

    In July, Inside Housing launched What’s the Benefit? to campaign against housing benefit cuts that risk driving thousands of vulnerable people from their homes and into poverty. To meet our third and final aim, here we invite a panel of industry experts to come up with alternative solutions to present to the government. Isabel Hardman reveals the results

  • Boris fights rent funding clash

    15/12/2010

    Boris Johnson is lobbying ministers over a clash between the government’s plans to cut housing benefit and the new affordable rent regime.

  • Lib Dem peers to fight housing benefit cutbacks

    10/12/2010

    Liberal Democrat peers will rebel against the coalition’s cuts to housing benefit for unemployed tenants, according to the party’s former work and pensions spokesperson.

  • IDS has 'no plans' for benefit concessions

    07/12/2010

    The government has ‘no plans at present’ to review the 10 per cent cut in housing benefit for jobseeker’s allowance claimants, Iain Duncan Smith said today.

  • Benefit reform court challenge fails

    07/12/2010

    A women’s rights group has been refused permission to challenge the legality of the emergency Budget.

  • Labour launches housing benefit fightback

    03/12/2010

    The Labour Party has launched an offensive against housing benefit cuts that were laid to Parliament this week.

  • Benefit reform delays fail to counter Lib Dem revolt

    03/12/2010

    Delays to housing benefit reforms announced this week by the Department for Work and Pensions have failed to stem a rebellion among backbench Liberal Democrat MPs and peers.

  • Division over effect of affordable rents on benefit bill

    03/12/2010

    The prime minister and the communities minister appear divided over how much the government’s tenure reforms will hit the housing benefit bill.

  • Don’t rest on your laurels

    03/12/2010

    The coalition government can be (and is) accused of many things, but one thing it is certainly not guilty of is dragging its heels.

  • Government advisors condemn benefit cuts

    01/12/2010

    The body that advises the government on social security issues has issued a damning verdict on the planned cuts to housing benefit.

  • Housing benefit cuts 'will save 160,000 jobs'

    30/11/2010

    Cuts in housing benefit have saved 160,000 public sector jobs, the chancellor claimed yesterday.

  • Revised benefit plans issued to Parliament

    30/11/2010

    Private sector landlords will be able to receive housing benefit payments directly in return for reducing their rent under regulations announced today.

  • Government set to delay benefit cuts

    29/11/2010

    The government is expected to make a vital concession in its cuts to housing benefit this week by delaying the cuts for existing private sector claimants.

  • IH reporter honoured at journalism awards

    26/11/2010

    Inside Housing senior reporter Isabel Hardman has picked up two prizes at the annual International Building Press National Journalism Awards.

  • The great divide

    26/11/2010

    The government’s housing policy will lead to a bigger wedge being driven between rich and poor, says Jon Cruddas

  • Duncan Smith corrects benefit claim

    25/11/2010

    Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has issued a written statement to parliament today admitting he misquoted figures used in a debate on housing benefit.

  • Johnson: benefit cuts will hit construction

    25/11/2010

    Boris Johnson has called for housing benefit plans to be modified for London so affordable homes can be built.

  • PM admits rent rise will hit benefit bill

    19/11/2010

    The prime minister has admitted raising social rents to 80 per cent of market level could drive up the housing benefit bill.

  • Eyes on the price

    19/11/2010

    It is welcome news that the government intends to ensure the housing benefit proportion of the new universal credit will be paid direct to social landlords.

  • History repeats itself

    19/11/2010

    Pricing the poor out of inner city areas is nothing new. It reflects an historic Tory prejudice against social housing, says Bill Randall

  • Government figures came from website

    17/11/2010

    Figures used by the government to claim private landlords are driving up housing benefit bills came from a property website, it has emerged.

  • Radical change threatens rents

    12/11/2010

    Ministers plan to enlarge the areas used to calculate housing benefit payments for private tenants.

  • Social landlords win direct payments

    11/11/2010

    Social landlords will receive their tenants’ housing benefit payments direct as part of the new universal credit system unveiled by the work and pensions secretary today.

  • Labour fails to force housing benefit rethink

    10/11/2010

    Labour MPs failed in a bid to force the government to modify its plans for housing benefit reform last night.

  • Benefit cut victims to lose right to support

    09/11/2010

    Housing benefit claimants who fall into arrears when their payments are cut will not receive full support from their councils, an MP warned today.

  • Labour 'not against' housing benefit caps

    09/11/2010

    Shadow work and pensions minister Douglas Alexander has admitted he is in favour of cutting housing benefit payments, ahead of a crucial vote on the topic.

  • Archbishop attacks unpaid work plan

    08/11/2010

    The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned government plans to force unemployed people to do unpaid work.

  • Lib Dem defects over housing benefit cuts

    08/11/2010

    A Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate has defected to Labour over cuts to housing benefit.

  • Hughes demands changes to avoid benefit battle

    05/11/2010

    Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has pledged to vote against the government unless it alters three specific elements of its plans to reform housing benefit.

  • Minister attacks benefit cut critics

    03/11/2010

    The government has denied that homelessness will rise as a result of cuts to housing benefit.

  • Renters cannot absorb housing benefit cut

    01/11/2010

    Two thirds of people renting social housing would face difficulties if their income fell through cuts to housing benefit, a survey has found.

  • Housing benefit plans stir rebellion among Lib Dem backbenchers

    29/10/2010

    The coalition government is facing the prospect of Liberal Democrat MPs voting against controversial housing benefit cuts unless it waters them down.

  • Kosovo claim raises stakes in benefit war

    28/10/2010

    London mayor Boris Johnson has waded into the row over housing benefit cuts, pledging to block ‘Kosovo-style social cleansing’.

  • Miliband urges Lib Dems to block benefit plans

    28/10/2010

    Ed Miliband has urged Liberal Democrat MPs to side with Labour in opposing housing benefit cuts due to be debated today.

  • Benefit concessions just ‘speculation’

    27/10/2010

    The prime minister has dismissed suggestions the government is considering watering down its plans to reform housing benefit.

  • Clegg rejects social cleansing claims

    27/10/2010

    The deputy prime minister has branded the language used by opponents of the government’s housing benefit reforms as ‘deeply offensive’.

  • Councils to move LHA claimants out of London

    22/10/2010

    Councils in London are arranging to move local housing allowance claimants into accommodation as far away as Hastings, following cuts to housing benefit confirmed in the comprehensive spending review.

  • Must do better

    22/10/2010

    We need to come up with some stronger ideas if we are going to tackle the government’s housing benefit reform plans, says Tim Leunig

  • Further housing benefit cuts to save £215m

    20/10/2010

    The government has announced further plans to cut housing benefit payments in the comprehensive spending review.

  • Benefit cap puts landlords’ income at risk

    15/10/2010

    Social landlords have warned they face large drops in their income as the result of government plans for a £500-a-week cap on all benefits.

  • Benefit plans could aid far right groups

    13/10/2010

    Plans to cut housing benefit could boost support for the British National Party, according to the Labour MP who defeated the leader of the far-right group in the general election.

  • Welsh groups unite against benefit cuts

    11/10/2010

    Welsh housing organisations are calling on the public to sign a petition against the UK government’s proposed cuts to housing benefit.

  • Duncan Smith unveils benefit reform plans

    06/10/2010

    Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has unveiled plans for a ‘universal credit’ to replace existing benefits, in his speech to the Conservative Party conference.

  • Call for councils to be given control over housing benefit

    01/10/2010

    Unemployed tenants who find a job should receive an increase in housing benefit rather than have their state support cut, according to the Liberal Democrat leader in local government.

  • Learn by example

    01/10/2010

    The coalition government must take a good look at the US and Canada to see what not to do with housing benefit, says Heather Petch

  • Use your head, Ed: focus on housing

    01/10/2010

    Dear Mr Miliband, Congratulations on becoming leader of the Labour Party.

  • SFHA launches housing benefit campaign

    30/09/2010

    The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations has launched a campaign today against proposed changes to the housing benefit system.

  • Benefit cuts branded ‘social cleansing’

    28/09/2010

    A Labour MP has warned cuts to housing benefit will result in ‘social cleansing’ across the country.

  • Eviction threat for 82,000 London homes

    27/09/2010

    The majority of London landlords would evict tenants if they underpaid their rent by more than £20 a week because of benefit cuts.

  • Seeing red

    24/09/2010

    Former housing minister Yvette Cooper is channelling her anger at the coalition attack on housing benefit into persuading fellow MPs to oppose legislation that would let the cuts to go ahead. Lydia Stockdale reports.

  • DWP concerned by tenure reform plans

    21/09/2010

    The Department for Work and Pensions is unhappy about government plans to reform security of tenure and to cut housing benefit, a minister revealed last night.

  • Minister seeks flexibility on benefit cuts

    20/09/2010

    The Northern Irish social development minister Alex Attwood has warned the government that reform to benefits must not be used to ‘wage a war’ on the vulnerable.

  • Nine in 10 landlords fear benefit cuts

    20/09/2010

    More than 90 per cent of private landlords have said they would be less likely to take on tenants who are claiming housing benefit if proposed cuts go ahead.

  • IDS hopes to protect poor from benefit cuts

    17/09/2010

    Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has guaranteed to do his ‘absolute best’ to protect the worst off from benefit cuts.

  • Benefit cuts spark debt fears

    17/09/2010

    Two thirds of social landlords are concerned proposed cuts to housing benefit will lead to an increase in bad debt on their balance sheets.

  • Cuts are coming

    17/09/2010

    After years of overspending, the housing sector cannot expect to escape budget cuts

  • Give us your ideas

    17/09/2010

    You’ve already helped achieve two of Inside Housing’s What’s the Benefit? campaign aims. Now we need your help with the third: how to reduce the housing benefit bill without driving people from their homes. Martin Hilditch looks at your proposals so far

  • Knowsley plans £7 million cut

    17/09/2010

    A Merseyside housing association will cut its budget by up to £7 million in response to the government’s plans to slash housing benefit.

  • Ready for reform?

    17/09/2010

    At last year’s National Housing Federation conference then shadow housing minister Grant Shapps told social landlords to ‘prepare for the worst’ as the coming years were ‘probably going to be the most difficult period we have ever known’.

  • Clegg warms to benefit reform plans

    16/09/2010

    Nick Clegg has broken with his pre-election stance on welfare by claiming that benefits should not ‘compensate the poor for their predicament’.

  • Benefit cuts are 'economic cleansing'

    15/09/2010

    The government has been accused of practising ‘economic cleansing’ through its programme of cuts by one of its own backbench MPs.

  • Chancellor denies rift over benefit cuts

    14/09/2010

    George Osborne has denied accusations of a ‘turf war’ between the Treasury and Iain Duncan Smith’s work and pensions department.

  • Benefit reforms would push 54,000 children below the poverty line

    10/09/2010

    The government risks missing its target to end child poverty by 2020 if cuts to housing benefit go ahead, a leading housing charity warned this week.

  • Councils underestimate benefit bill

    10/09/2010

    Rising demand for housing benefit has meant the amount councils underestimated they would spend on it has more than doubled in four years.

  • Groups united in opposition to benefit cuts

    09/09/2010

    The government’s proposed cuts to housing benefit have come under fire from all sides, with charities, industry bodies and trade unions all voicing their opposition to the plans.

  • Abbott: Budget cuts 'unfair on women'

    07/09/2010

    Women and children will bear the brunt of the government’s emergency Budget cuts, Labour leadership hopeful Diane Abbott warned last night.

  • Opening shots

    06/09/2010

    The new parliamentary session starting today has already prompted some pre-emptive strikes on welfare reform from campaigners and a fresh round of scrounger stories in the right-wing press.

  • Job-linked benefit cuts would hit 200,000

    06/09/2010

    Nearly 200,000 unemployed people will lose around £500 a year if cuts to housing benefit go ahead, union leaders warned today.

  • Benefit cuts to hit women hardest

    03/09/2010

    Ken Livingstone has published findings showing women will be disproportionately affected by the coalition government’s changes to housing benefit and pensions.

  • Benefit rulings could cost DWP

    03/09/2010

    The government may have to refund overpayments of housing benefit it has already clawed back, following legal action.

  • Councils used private sector to stop 65,000 becoming homeless

    03/09/2010

    Councils helped 65,000 people find homes in the private sector last year, new figures have revealed.

  • Labour backers urged to fight benefit cuts

    01/09/2010

    Former housing minister Yvette Cooper has called on Labour supporters and members in every part of the country to campaign against the planned changes to housing benefit.

  • Balls demands £6bn for affordable homes

    31/08/2010

    Labour leadership candidate Ed Balls is calling for a £6 billion investment to build 100,000 affordable homes over two years.

  • 'I'll shout until they hear me'

    27/08/2010

    Liberal Democrat backbencher Bob Russell is so opposed to plans to cut housing benefit that he is lobbying his fellow MPs to stand up for Britain’s most vulnerable families. Isabel Hardman reports.

  • 'Regressive' Budget will hit poor hardest

    25/08/2010

    Cuts announced in the emergency Budget will hit families and the poor hardest, a leading think tank has found.

  • Benefit reform to split London borough

    23/08/2010

    The proposed changes to housing benefit will split the London borough of Camden in two, with more than 2,000 claimants being affected, the local authority has said.

  • Clegg: benefit cuts are hard to justify

    20/08/2010

    Nick Clegg has waded into the row over housing benefit reform by suggesting proposed cuts make it difficult to justify replacing the Trident nuclear weapon.

  • The cuts run deep

    20/08/2010

    The goverment’s programme of public spending cuts are proving devastating for many of society’s most vulnerable people. One such example is the proposed reform of housing benefit which Inside Housing is highlighting though our What’s the Benefit? campaign, which this week received its 1000th backer.

  • Clegg attacks Labour welfare spending

    18/08/2010

    Nick Clegg has attacked Labour’s welfare record for spending ‘huge sums of money’ which did not alter people’s life chances.

  • Clegg: housing 'is UK's biggest problem'

    17/08/2010

    Access to affordable housing is one of the biggest problems faced by the UK, Nick Clegg said yesterday.

  • Tories exposed for mis-selling security

    13/08/2010

    The Conservative Party held pre-election meetings with key housing figures about its plans to remove security of tenure from future social housing tenants.

  • Lib Dem deputy to create benefit reform plan

    13/08/2010

    The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats is drawing up alternatives to the government’s plans to reform housing benefit because of his concern about their impact in London.

  • The Canadian way

    13/08/2010

    Canada cut its way to an impressive economic recovery in the 1990s which David Cameron hopes to emulate. But the UK overlooks the country’s subsequent housing crisis at its peril. Nick Duxbury reports.

  • Advisory committee launches housing benefit inquiry

    11/08/2010

    The social security advisory committee has launched an inquiry into the government’s proposed changes to housing benefit.

  • Government launches benefit fraud crackdown

    10/08/2010

    The government will draft in credit ratings agencies to hunt down benefit frauds, the prime minister announced today.

  • People, not cash

    06/08/2010

    Grahame Hindes, chief executive of Octavia Housing, outlines why he supports the What’s the Benefit? campaign for fairer reforms to the housing benefit bill.

  • Labour candidates back our campaign

    06/08/2010

    Four of the five candidates for the leadership of the Labour Party have backed Inside Housing’s What’s the Benefit? campaign.

  • Standing up for the little guy

    06/08/2010

    The coalition government’s cutbacks will hit the poorest members of society, says Jon Cruddas

  • Unions condemn housing benefit cuts

    05/08/2010

    The Trades Union Congress has condemned the government’s decision to cut housing benefit payments.

  • Bad news for BME tenants

    04/08/2010

    BME communities are particularly concerned about the impact of the reforms to housing benefit announced in the emergency budget. Sheron Carter, chief executive of Arhag Housing Association and Chair of London BME Directors, explains why the cuts are such bad news.

  • Making the case for housing

    03/08/2010

    David Miliband on what the government is doing wrong, how a mansion tax would help, and what he would do if elected leader of the Labour Party.

  • Miliband mansion tax to meet benefit bill

    03/08/2010

    Labour Party leadership candidate David Miliband has suggested a ‘mansion tax’ on homes worth more than £2 million should be introduced to fund housing benefit costs.

  • ‘The government won’t give a damn about us'

    30/07/2010

    Pensioners like Patricia Wright fear housing benefit reforms will push them below the breadline. How can that be right, asks Isabel Hardman.

  • Battle is not over yet

    30/07/2010

    The response to Inside Housing’s What’s the Benefit? campaign has been phenomenal.

  • Double success for What’s the Benefit? campaign

    30/07/2010

    MPs have backed one of the key demands of Inside Housing’s What’s the Benefit? campaign by agreeing to hold an inquiry into controversial housing benefit reforms.

  • Serious business

    29/07/2010

    Housing associations are concerned about the effect changes to housing benefit will have on their business plans - and how much they can do for their tenants.

  • MPs to scrutinise housing benefit changes

    28/07/2010

    An influential committee of MPs has launched an inquiry into changes to housing benefit.

  • Brent housing head joins benefit cut critics

    27/07/2010

    A director of housing at a London council has broken ranks to criticise planned changes to housing benefit.

  • Another way

    26/07/2010

    Helen Williams, assistant director of the National Housing Federation, offers alternative suggestions for reforming the housing benefit bill

  • Benefit cuts will cost families £600 a year

    26/07/2010

    Cuts to the local housing allowance will hit almost everyone claiming the benefit, with an average loss of £12 a week.

  • Benefit reforms 'will make 200,000 homeless'

    23/07/2010

    The coalition government’s controversial housing benefit reforms will push homelessness figures up to the worst level in three decades, the National Housing Federation predicts.

  • Place your Betts

    23/07/2010

    Labour MP Clive Betts narrowly won a cross-party vote to chair the Communities and Local Government department’s select committee, giving him power to scrutinise the government’s housing policies. In his first interview since taking the job, Lydia Stockdale finds out why MPs were willing to take a gamble on him - and why he’s supporting our housing benefit campaign.

  • United in protest

    23/07/2010

    Forget the coalition government - get ready for the rainbow alliance.

  • Benefit plans concern Lib Dem deputy

    22/07/2010

    The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has voiced concerns about proposed changes to housing benefit.

  • Welfare reforms to increase need for homes

    20/07/2010

    Social landlords should brace themselves for a surge in demand for housing as the coalition government’s controversial welfare reforms take hold, the Chartered Institute of Housing has warned.

  • Landlords seek clarity on LHA payments

    20/07/2010

    The British Property Federation has written to the work and pensions secretary asking for confirmation that housing benefit payments will go direct to landlords.

  • Boris fears housing benefit reforms

    19/07/2010

    The mayor of London has said he is concerned about the impact of plans to cut housing benefit, and requested special treatment for the capital.

  • Benefit restrictions drive demand for food banks

    19/07/2010

    A tightened benefits system will lead to increasing numbers needing the services of food banks, a charity has warned.

  • Hitting home

    16/07/2010

    Elsayed Ward already struggles to support his family in a cramped and damp flat. From April next year this task will be even harder. Isabel Hardman investigates how reforms to housing benefit will leave Mr Ward and thousands like him fighting to keep a roof over their heads

  • Hundreds give backing to housing benefit campaign

    16/07/2010

    More than 300 people backed Inside Housing’s What’s the Benefit? campaign within three working days.

  • Seeking a solution to sky high rent

    16/07/2010

    Government plans to cut the £21 billion housing benefit bill would be a cure that is worse than the disease

  • Housing benefit crucial to combat poverty

    15/07/2010

    Helping low-income families with housing costs has a larger impact on their welfare than any other type of support, according to a study.

  • PM wades into housing benefit row

    15/07/2010

    The prime minister has said it is an ‘outrage’ that families are able to claim £2,000 a week in housing benefit.

  • Benefit reforms threaten mixed communities

    15/07/2010

    Shelter chief executive Campbell Robb makes the case for fairer reform to housing benefit.

  • Taxpayer 'should not fund large families'

    14/07/2010

    Housing benefit recipients should not expect to have accommodation for large families subsidised by the taxpayer, a Conservative MP has said.

  • The real face of housing benefit

    13/07/2010

    There’s nothing quite like a good story about a housing benefit claimant living in a classy mansion at taxpayers’ expense. Which is why there is another clutch of such stories in the newspapers this week.

  • What's the Benefit?

    12/07/2010

    Last week, Inside Housing launched its ‘What’s the Benefit?’ campaign, which is asking for the government to reconsider reforms announced in the Budget which have the potential to damage hundreds of thousands of people.

  • Livingstone places housing centre stage

    12/07/2010

    Ken Livingstone has pledged to put housing at the centre of his campaign to become mayor of London.

  • Minister: benefit cap will cause 'casualties'

    12/07/2010

    A government minister has admitted there will be ‘casualties’ from the decision to cap housing benefit.

  • Housing benefit cuts will damage communities

    09/07/2010

    Since George Osborne first proposed cutting housing benefit in his emergency Budget speech, there has been huge concern across the country about the devastating implications of the cuts.

  • Inside Housing campaigns against benefit cut plans

    09/07/2010

    Inside Housing today launches a campaign to persuade the government to drop plans for housing benefit reform that could force thousands of people out of their homes.

  • Reset the pain threshold

    09/07/2010

    Landlords must reach a new understanding with tenants following Budget cuts to benefit, says Rebecca McGuirk

  • Solution to benefit everyone

    09/07/2010

    This week Inside Housing launches a campaign to find alternatives to the current proposals to cut the £21 billion housing benefit bill.

  • Benefit recipients barred from expensive areas

    07/07/2010

    A minister has said the government’s decision to cap the local housing allowance is aimed at preventing private tenants on benefit living in expensive areas.

  • Benefit tenants priced out of all private homes

    02/07/2010

    Private tenants on local housing allowance face being unable to afford to rent a property within a decade, the Chartered Insitute of Housing has warned.

  • Call this social justice?

    02/07/2010

    A squeeze on housing benefit and too few jobs present bleak prospects for the less privileged, says Tim Leunig

  • Streets apart

    02/07/2010

    Chancellor George Osborne’s move to slash £4 billion from the soaring housing benefit bill was no surprise to the social housing sector. But welfare reforms, which could see thousands of tenants forced to leave their communities to find cheaper housing, have caused a collective intake of breath. Chloë Stothart investigates

  • Benefit reforms threaten Westminster families

    29/06/2010

    The majority of families on housing benefit in Westminster will lose their homes under proposed welfare reforms, councillors have warned.

  • Benefit burden

    25/06/2010

    ‘A spiral of debt, eviction and homelessness’ is what many poorer people face as a result of Tuesday’s emergency Budget, according to Campbell Robb, chief executive of homelessness charity Shelter.

  • Housing benefit cuts slammed by sector

    25/06/2010

    Government plans to dock housing benefit from the long-term unemployed have been slammed as ‘nasty’ by tenants’ groups.

  • LHA cuts to lead to 'benefit ghettos'

    24/06/2010

    Plans for a tough new local housing allowance regime risk plunging people into arrears and creating benefit ghettos, delegates at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference have warned.

  • Benefit cuts risk eviction and homelessness

    23/06/2010

    The government’s decision to cut housing benefit has been criticised by homelessness charities and housing associations.

  • Osborne to limit benefit payments

    22/06/2010

    Maximum limits on housing benefits have been announced by chancellor George Osborne during his first Budget speech.

  • Localism must not become 'nimby's charter'

    26/05/2010

    Housing bodies have warned that shifting responsibility for development to local authorities must not result in fewer homes, after legislation was unveiled in the Queen’s speech.

  • Queen's speech bill will shift power to councils

    25/05/2010

    Legislation to shift responsibility for housing from central to local government and give communities the power to build homes have been set out in the Queen’s speech.

  • Disabled man fights benefit rule

    30/04/2010

    The mother of a disabled student is considering a legal challenge against the government over its failure to consider the impact of housing benefit regulations on disabled people.

  • 'One-strike' benefits regime on the cards

    23/01/2009

    People who commit a single act of fraud face having their housing benefit slashed as part of a tough new regime.

  • Benefit reforms will hit social tenants

    14/01/2009

    Legislation to force unemployed people back into work has been unveiled by the government.

  • Queen's speech bill enshrines tenant rights

    03/12/2008

    The Queen has announced that new laws on local democracy, economic strategy and welfare reform will be brought before Parliament next year.

  • Benefit penalties will push landlords to shun claimants

    10/05/2007

    Private sector will be discouraged by sanctions pilots, says RLA

  • Migrants ‘better behaved' than tenants on allowance

    19/04/2007

    LHA intended for rent likely to be frittered away, say private landlords

  • Roll-out of benefit sanctions blocked

    23/03/2007

    Ministers must return welfare reform proposals to Parliament after two-year pilot ends

  • Benefit docking could make matters worse

    01/02/2007

    Housing benefit restrictions would be ‘visiting the sins of the fathers on innocent children', the House of Lords was told this week.

  • New powers target benefit abuse by support providers

    07/07/2006

    The government is to introduce new laws to clamp down on housing benefit abuse by supported housing providers as part of its plans to reform the welfare system.

  • Benefit change plans not open to consultation

    10/03/2006

    The government will not hold an open consultation on its proposals to introduce housing benefits sanctions against antisocial behaviour, it has revealed.