Only a fraction of private rented homes in the London borough of Hackney are affordable under welfare reforms, and many landlords are actively refusing to let to housing benefit recipients
“No blacks, no dogs, no Irish” was, apparently, a familiar sign hanging by the front doors of 1950′s and 1960′s boarding houses. In the era of welfare reform and chronic housing shortage, a new category of tenant has emerged that many landlords are refusing to have any dealings with: those in receipt of housing benefit.
Hackney Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) in east London had begun to wonder about this. It had noticed, over the past few months, a steady stream of local people coming to see them for help. Some said they faced eviction, others said it was impossible to find somewhere to live that was affordable within the new, draconian, housing benefit limits.
So the CAB decided to investigate. It put together a team of five volunteers on 15 June to carry out a “mystery shopping” exercise to see what the private rental market looked like for people on housing benefit in the east London borough, using two of the main sources of private rented accommodation: the website Rightmove (used by letting agencies) and Gumtree (used by agencies and individual landlords).
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Back to the Victorian era. Soon we’ll have people living in tents and storm drains like in the U.S where overburdened housing services are actually referring people to makeshift “tent cities” that are springing up there.
I actually met a man begging on the street recently. I started talking to him- he was living in a tent with some friends because of the problems outlined in this Guardian article. We are no longer living in a civilised society. People need to open their minds, eyes and ears to what is going on and take action by lobbying their MPs pronto. The UK is not a poor country. This is happening because the Gov don’t care about the British people. What they are doing is vile and low and calculated. Shame on them, greedy greedy, immoral lot. We will never give up the battle for justice. Courage!
Couldnt have put it better myself. This country is far from poor its the elites scum on clampdown, they are determined to destroy the common man.
just out and still news is shitt- it looks rather bad and we may be camping out rather than sooner its getting the dark cloud passing overhead that drops it load on us ,but still the politicians dont move and population does nowt and so it seems that its the same story from yrs ago will the last person switch the light out please jeff3