Oxford City Council has voted unanimously in opposition to the Government’s proposed new cap on Housing Benefit, over fears that it will render supported housing schemes for vulnerable groups in Oxford financially inviable.
The proposal was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement, as part of a £12 billion programme of welfare cuts.The Government intends to extend the Local Housing Allowance, which caps housing benefit rents just below the local average market rent, to all social housing from 2018. Supported accommodation schemes for vulnerable groups, such as mental health sufferers, domestic violence victims and homeless people, will be subject to the cap. Critics insist that the cap will not leave these services with enough money to continue operating.
One of the local services set to be affected by the change is Oxford Homeless Pathways, which provides, amongst other services, emergency accommodation to homeless people at O’Hanlon House in the city centre. The charity’s Chief Executive, Lesley Dewhurst, said of the cap, “It would have a profoundly negative effect on the kind of supported accommodation that we run.” The cost of a room at O’Hanlon House is currently just over £200 per week, which is met entirely by housing benefit. The proposed new changes would reduce housing benefit to just £80 a week, representing a 60 per cent cut in funding.
A strongly worded motion was passed unanimously by the Labour run City Council on Monday, roundly condemning the plans. The motion describes the Government’s proposal as “completely incompatible with the basic tenets of a civilised society” and accuses the Government of being “committed to the wholesale destruction of all social housing”.
Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, who proposed the motion, told Cherwell, “Providing supported homes for those that need it people with mental and physical health problems, those sheltering from domestic violence or trying to free themselves from addiction – is a basic duty of a civilised society. This proposal will destroy that provision, and the government needs to be shamed into abandoning its plans.”
Following this motion, the Leader of the Council will be writing to both of Oxford’s MPs asking them to oppose the changes “in the strongest possible terms”.
The developments come amid controversy over Oxfordshire County Council’s decision lastmonth to cut its budget for homelessness services by 65 per cent.
Mark Thompson, chief executive of Connection Floating Support, an Oxford-based charity which provides housing and mental health services, told Cherwell, “If there was a way of separating the extra and legitimate costs from the core rent such that only the core rent could be chargeable to people living in such accommodation, that would be great.” Under this suggestion, the portion of social Housing Benefit spent on accommodation itself would be brought in-line with the housing benefit received by private rental tenants, without the services currently funded via housing benefit losing out.
In response to criticism of the plans by Labour, a Government spokesman told the BBC in December, “We have increased funding to councils by 40 per cent since the last Parliament to help people who may need extra support whilst they transition to our reforms. From the outset we have been clear that vulnerable people will be supported through our welfare reforms.”
The Department for Communities and Local Government is set to report on a review of social housing in March.
