Council in court over housing benefit

[Dick]

There was an item in the Star last week about a guy on benefits who was suing the council because they wouldn't pay £695 per month housing benefit for his flat in the new west one development.

He said it wasn't fair that people on benefit had to live in poor accomodation.

I never saw another report of the case. Does anyone know the result?

By and large people on full housing benefit are in a better position than someone on average wages paying his own way.

[Plain Talker]

no they are not, when the council HB system will only pay something like thirty-to-forty quid a week, for private accommodation, for someone, when even simple one-bedroomed flats can be 70-100 quid a week. I mean, goodness me, even housing association properties can be 80 or 90 quid a week for a 2 bed property. (mine is just pence shy of 80! -and it's nothing spectacular)

 

Council housing is becoming as rare as hen's teeth in some areas, and the prices of THEIR rents are rising to similar levels to private/HA properties, not to mention the fact that it's not that easy to get disabled-suitable properties through the council. I had to move, much against my will, into a HA property to get something that suited my needs.

 

I totally agree with this chap... why SHOULD someone like him, who is Disabled/on benefit have to live in a pleck of a place? why CAN'T they have the right to have the costs of decent/suitable accommodation paid?

 

Good luck to him with the verdict.

 

hopefully this will set a precedent that just because you are on benefit, you should not have to live in a hovel/ sub-standard acommodation.

[Heyesey]

no they are not, when the council HB system will only pay something like thirty-to-forty quid a week, for private accommodation, for someone, when even simple one-bedroomed flats can be 70-100 quid a week. I mean, goodness me, even housing association properties can be 80 or 90 quid a week for a 2 bed property. (mine is just pence shy of 80! -and it's nothing spectacular)

 

Council housing is becoming as rare as hen's teeth in some areas, and the prices of THEIR rents are rising to similar levels to private/HA properties, not to mention the fact that it's not that easy to get disabled-suitable properties through the council. I had to move, much against my will, into a HA property to get something that suited my needs.

 

I totally agree with this chap... why SHOULD someone like him, who is Disabled/on benefit have to live in a pleck of a place? why CAN'T they have the right to have the costs of decent/suitable accommodation paid?

 

Good luck to him with the verdict.

 

hopefully this will set a precedent that just because you are on benefit, you should not have to live in a hovel/ sub-standard acommodation.

 

You seriously think that people should be able to live in a twenty-bedroomed mansion and claim housing benefit? I don't think so.

 

You can't afford the place where you live - move.

[Plain Talker]

nowhere in my post did I say that folk should have 20-bedroomed properties.

 

read my post properly, and you will see that I said "A DECENT/SUITABLE PROPERTY"

 

don't be do melodramatic

[Plain Talker]

ps

 

You can't afford the place where you live - move.

 

and if that property you "cannot afford" is the one most suited to (Or happens to be adapted-to-suit) your needs?

 

are you suggesting that someone who is disabled should move into a non-adapted or unsuitable property just so it costs less?

[nightrider]

no they are not, when the council HB system will only pay something like thirty-to-forty quid a week, for private accommodation, for someone, when even simple one-bedroomed flats can be 70-100 quid a week. I mean, goodness me, even housing association properties can be 80 or 90 quid a week for a 2 bed property. (mine is just pence shy of 80! -and it's nothing spectacular)

 

Council housing is becoming as rare as hen's teeth in some areas, and the prices of THEIR rents are rising to similar levels to private/HA properties, not to mention the fact that it's not that easy to get disabled-suitable properties through the council. I had to move, much against my will, into a HA property to get something that suited my needs.

 

I totally agree with this chap... why SHOULD someone like him, who is Disabled/on benefit have to live in a pleck of a place? why CAN'T they have the right to have the costs of decent/suitable accommodation paid?

 

Good luck to him with the verdict.

 

hopefully this will set a precedent that just because you are on benefit, you should not have to live in a hovel/ sub-standard acommodation.

 

fair enough they should get somewhere decent, but not 695 pounds a month rent. I could not afford to live there so why should someone else get it free?

Sorry but you can get somewhere decent for a lot less than 700 pounds.

[nightrider]

ps

 

 

 

and if that property you "cannot afford" is the one most suited to (Or happens to be adapted-to-suit) your needs?

 

are you suggesting that someone who is disabled should move into a non-adapted or unsuitable property just so it costs less?

 

hang on the OP did not say he was disabled. If he is disabled and the only suitable thing costs 700 pounds then fair enough. But a non-disabled person cannot possibly justify the council spending 700 pounds a month on the rent given rental prices in sheffield.

[Plain Talker]

sorry, on my soap box, here...

 

edit to add:- as someone who now relies on a wheelchair, because of a rachman-landlord's sub-standard property, I now know, first hand, how a person's health can be affected adversely by living in sub-standard acommodation.

 

when HB and CTB won't be paid for a suitable property, that's fit to live in, (e.g. away from industry, and free from things like damp and disrepair) the drain on resources like the NHS , treating the resultant illnesses and conditions is phenomenal.

[Heyesey]

ps

 

 

 

and if that property you "cannot afford" is the one most suited to (Or happens to be adapted-to-suit) your needs?

 

are you suggesting that someone who is disabled should move into a non-adapted or unsuitable property just so it costs less?

 

Anyone who is disabled can afford to have the property adapted themselves - God knows they get enough in DLA, and that's exactly the sort of thing that DLA is for.

[fnkysknky]

£700 a month housing benefit is ridiculous. It's more than many people earn a week.