William Waldegrave and the 1988 Housing Act
October 4th, 2012
UPDATE: – Jules Birch has written a much better article on this subject (or here) and Part 1 here or slow link here.
This is not so much an article so much as more a collection of comments but it tells the story of a man, his decision and its outcome. None of it makes pleasant reading. It’s time to reduce the Housing Benefit bill not by moving families out of London to the sticks but by starting a process of restoring capital grants for low cost housing and actually building places for people to live instead of shuffling families around the country like so much livestock.
This year there has been a dramatic surge in the number of families being housed in B&Bs, with figures from the National Housing Federationshowing a 44% increase over the past year. For families with children, the rise has been even sharper – an increase of 60%, according to the homelessness charity Shelter. Almost 4,000 families are now living in hostels, and the most dramatic rise is in central London.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/15/bed-and-breakfast-families-crisis