Are we soon to be living in a Dickens novel?

The Guardian, recently reported on a Kent landlord who has issued eviction notices to his all his tenants currently in receipt of Housing Benefit.

The landlord has built up a property empire of over 1000 properties throughout Ashford but has become exasperated with the amount of arrears his tenants on welfare have built up.

I am not a landlord myself, but I can sympathise, landlords like this couple clearly run their properties as a business and the aim of all business is to make profit, if he is not receiving his rent and in addition paying out for court costs for evictions I can see his point, in wanting to swap his current situation for one of employed tenants with a steady monthly income.

And this landlord is not alone, increasingly I see tenants who most times through no fault of their own find themselves claiming housing benefit, but are unable to find anywhere to live because more and more private landlords are choosing employed tenants over tenants on welfare.

I’m sure some people out there may be screaming ‘DISCRIMINATION’ ‘HUMAN RIGHTS’  and yes they have a point, but, the main issue here is not the tenants themselves, it is the funds.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was capped, which meant anyone under 35yrs old could only get enough housing benefit to rent a room in a shared house.

And the LHA for someone over 35 renting a 1 bedroom property falls below the average private rental cost.

I found myself in exactly this position in 2012, after working all my life since the age of 15, I was made redundant in Dec 2012, I had minimal savings and rent and bills to pay.

I had to jump through hoops at the council office just to get housing benefit, which was then delayed in being paid to me for 10 weeks because of a ‘backlog’

During this 10 week period my rent was due and went unpaid, may landlord, not a happy bunny, but luckily because I had previously always paid early, allowed me the time while my payment was processed.

Once it came through all was well, except my 4 weekly payment was less than the rent I owed monthly, so I had to top up my rent from the money I received for Job Seekers allowance.

Not ideal as this had a knock on effect to the rest of my out goings, I was lucky in some respects that it was just me, no partner, no kids to feed, but I can see how people can find themselves in piles of debt being on benefits.

But where does this leave the tenants who are on housing benefit?

In short – HOMELESS

Local councils have a catch 22 policy, they will not house tenants who are in rent arrears, yet 9 times out of 10 it is the councils error in payments that have caused the arrears in the first place.

Councils will also not downsize a tenant who is in arrears, so a tenant who can’t afford to keep a 3 bed property and is building up arrears, will not be moved with their debt, to a smaller property with a lesser rent to help them pay off the arrears and manage their rent, because they are in arrears.

Something needs to change with the way benefits are paid, as soon, otherwise we will soon see hundreds of families living on the streets because there is literally nowhere for them to live.

The UK will again look like a scene from a Dickens novel with the poor begging in doorways, urchin children running around the streets with dirty faces, while the rich live in their warm houses.

A frightening but very real vision.