ROOF Blog

A freedom of information request by Andrew Slaughter, London MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd’s Bush, has found presentations made by the Conservative leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council to senior Tory figures calling for limiting social housing to the old, infirm and disabled in a bid to solve the ‘concentration of deprivation’. Council leader Stephen Greenhalgh suggested a range of ‘radical reforms’ including wanting to see social rents rise to market levels; welfare payments based on need rather than rent paid; an end to tenure for life by those in need of social housing; five-year reviews of existing tenants to check on changing circumstances; and demolition of some of the borough’s largest council estates.

In a case highlighting the ‘perverse nature’ of the housing benefit which allows claimants to live in subsidised properties that most taxpayers could not afford, a family of five has been place by their council in a £2 million property, costing more than £91,000 a year in rent. Figures released under Freedom of Information show that there are five local authorities in the country paying rent totalling more than £50,000 a year. Most of the top paying councils are located in London, but include other areas such as Exeter and Slough. The councils with the highest proportion of people on housing benefit are also located in London – Hackney comes top with 38.9 per cent of the population receiving housing benefit, followed by Tower Hamlets with 38.1 per cent. Outside London, Manchester rates highest with 33.7 per cent claiming benefit.