What Housing Benefit cuts mean for Dundee

The Westminster Government has announced some big cuts in Housing Benefit, but the detail is complex and I don't think people realise what's about to hit them. So I've tried to show what the cuts actually mean for people in Dundee.

Council and housing association tenants

If you live in a house with an extra bedroom, your benefit will be cut as from April 2013. If you are over pension age, this doesn't apply. Disabled people will be allowed an extra bedroom for a carer, or equipment storage.

Private Tenants

Private tenants will take some of the biggest hits. The cuts mean you'll only get Housing Benefit (or Local Housing Allowance) for the cheapest rents. Until April the going weekly rate in Dundee of Housing Benefit for a three bedroomed flat is £150. After April this changes to £126. The change starts right away for new tenants, and existing tenants get nine months grace before their benefit is cut by £24 a week. How much you lose depends on how big your flat is.

People aged 25 - 35 who have their own private tenancies are in for a shock as from April 2012. They will only be paid enough Housing Benefit to cover the cost of a room in a shared flat. So someone claiming £80.77 now will be cut down to £54.23 a week. That's a benefit cut of more than £100 a month.

Changes that affect everyone

If you have adult relatives living in your house, they are expected to pay towards the rent. This means you get less Housing Benefit. Let's say you have a son who is over 18 and working 40 hours on the minimum wage. He's supposed to contribute £38.20 towards the rent as things stand. From April, he'll have to find another £10.25 a week.

If you're on Jobseekers Allowance, as from 2013 you'll lose 10% of your Housing benefit after twelve months. In Dundee, on average, that's £7.11 per week.

What does it all mean?
If you're on benefit it will be harder to find a private let you can afford. If you do, it is likely to be of poorer quality because landlords who charge lower rents have less money to invest. You may end up on the Council waiting list.

If you are under 35 and single, you won't get a private flat of your own. You can go for a council flat, but the waiting lists are long now. They'll be longer when the cuts come in.

If you're on your own in a two bedroom flat, you won't get the full rent paid and you'll have to dip into your Income Support or move house.

Some people will be unable to take the hit and will lose their homes ... and they'll end up in expensive Council temporary accommodation. Until the Tories and Lib Dems get round to cutting the benefit for that, of course.

Now is the time to lobby your MP about these cuts and try and get them stopped. Why should the poorest pay for the bankers' mistakes? This would not be happening in an independent Scotland ...

(Information from the Scottish Government report - Housing Benefit Changes: Scottish Impact Assessment - and from Dundee City council's HB telephone information line)

Empty houses?

There's been some press speculation about empty houses in Dundee. Cllr MacPherson suggests there are around 4000 and half of them are council or housing association houses.

Not so. 1,165 of these houses are zoned for demolition. These include six multis in Hilltown and parts of Whitfield and Mill o Mains. They also include, strangely, 179 houses used as temporary accommodation for homeless people and another 1,750 privately owned homes which are either lying empty or used as second homes.

All landlords have empty houses which are waiting repairs and relet. At the end of January the Council had 441. Compared to a housing stock of 13,500 houses that's not so bad. However, it's still not good enough and we are putting in a big shift to bring those numbers down. Housing associations have a modest 141.

There are another 384 empties for various reasons; I believe they are mostly in the private sector. Some are empty because the previous occupant has died, gone to jail or gone into full time residential care and the homes may be on sale. Some are mortgage repossessions, and some are under reconstruction.

So in Dundee the main problem with empty homes is in the private sector. We want to see these homes brought back into use. We support the Scottish Government's empty homes initiative. The credit crunch and long waiting lists for rented housing mean we can't afford empty homes in our city.

Very happy to make these figures available to Cllr MacPherson on request ...