Where all the money is going..

[tinfoilhat]

Can't say I disagree with you, only UKIP have the appetite to bring about real change, because nothing will change whilst we're ever in the EU.

 

Our politicians (and their sycophantic supporters) will not change if we leave the eu. They will not change after world war 3, the same self serving scum will still rise to the surface.

[taxman]

Where all the money is going?

 

Well a lot of it may well be ****** up the wall going here

[TeaFan]

I'm sure you did.

 

 

 

There is more than one scandal in this film and article, and she (as politicians do) flipped a scandal and implied that this was caused by a cheer-leading council (and opposition), and it blames them. See here...

 

'It's a scandal that these people are losing their homes due to their housing benefits being cut', and 'Westminster was cheer-leading for these cuts'

 

then adds to it, by concluding that...

 

 

'and now all this public money is being poured into these hotel costs.'.

 

It's several cheap shots, that most people don't see.

 

She bypasses part of why this is a scandal. First by missing that it was ever not a scandal that people were claiming £700 a week in housing costs alone - that IS the real first scandal... and someone let it happen.

 

The second scandal is (as you gathered from it) - that it is putting people up in hotels at stupid prices, and is a waste of public money.

 

The correct conclusion I would think, is that the second scandal was caused by the first. i.e. whoever allowed housing benefit to be a scandalous waste of public money (in cases like this one)

 

I think you're a bit off the mark on this one ash. The government was warned by loads of people, including Karen Buck, Crisis, Shelter, even Eric Pickles, that bringing down the Local Housing Allowance rate from the 50th centile to the 30th would result in expensive placements in homeless temporary accommodation. Westminster Council, the most Tory council imaginable, also warned of it. The government didn't listen and this is the consequence.

 

I don't have a great deal of sympathy for Westminster Council though, as they aggressively sold off nearly all of their Council housing in the 80s and 90s (and then levied massive leaseholder charges on the people who bought them) and have barely any left. If they hadn't done this they would have some of their own stock to use instead of hotels.

 

You're right that Labour allowed the Local Housing Allowance bill to get out of hand, but the cheapest and most sensible way to rein it in would have been a rent cap in the private sector. But since this would clash so badly with the Tory free market dogma they took a different route instead, which everyone knew would cause situations such as the one highlighted by the OP.

[*_ash_*]

I think you're a bit off the mark on this one ash. The government was warned by loads of people, including Karen Buck, Crisis, Shelter, even Eric Pickles, that bringing down the Local Housing Allowance rate from the 50th centile to the 30th would result in expensive placements in homeless temporary accommodation. Westminster Council, the most Tory council imaginable, also warned of it. The government didn't listen and this is the consequence.

 

I don't have a great deal of sympathy for Westminster Council though, as they aggressively sold off nearly all of their Council housing in the 80s and 90s (and then levied massive leaseholder charges on the people who bought them) and have barely any left. If they hadn't done this they would have some of their own stock to use instead of hotels.

 

You're right that Labour allowed the Local Housing Allowance bill to get out of hand, but the cheapest and most sensible way to rein it in would have been a rent cap in the private sector. But since this would clash so badly with the Tory free market dogma they took a different route instead, which everyone knew would cause situations such as the one highlighted by the OP.

I haven't had a computer to respond...

 

I don't think I'm off the mark at all. You are just looking at consequences like the opposition - by blaming the current government. This is a consequence of a loss of control in hand-outs.

 

A rent-cap in the private sector would be costly to enforce and easy to break - if we are handing out endless money in HB then that will affect rent charges, and they will go up. By limiting HB then the private sector can either adjust to this, or have empty properties.

 

A quick search on rightmove and I've found several properties in Westminster that are 4 bedrooms, and less than £450/week. Still ridiculous amount and unnessasary when they don't have to live in Westminster.