‘One in 10 could lose their homes’ warning

Published: 8 October, 2010
by TERRY MESSENGER

A CROSS-PARTY campaign against housing benefit cuts was stepped up this week amid fears that 700 families in Islington will be forced to move.

Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn condemned the policy to loud cheers at the launch meeting of the borough’s anti-cuts campaign. The Coalition government plans to put a nationwide cap on housing benefits, with families expected to make up the shortfall if their rent is higher. No allowance is made for higher rents in the capital.

Islington Council’s opposition leader Councillor Terry Stacy led a London Lib Dem protest delegation to the party’s Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb. Cllr Stacy said: “We all accept the housing benefit bill must come down. But London is different and needs to be treated differently.”

Under the plans, housing benefit would be limited to between £250 and £400 a week depending on the size of the property. Islington’s Labour council has predicted 700 families will have to move out of the area because they will not be able to afford their share of the rent.

But Mr Corbyn reckons the toll could be even higher. He told the anti-cuts meeting on Tuesday: “Thirty per cent live in private rented accommodation and a third are on housing benefit. I bet every single one of their rent levels is above the cap on the local housing allowance. 

“In other words, you’re looking at 10 per cent of our population threatened with the loss of their homes.”