Council statement on housing benefits case
There has been extensive media coverage over the last two days about a family of eight living in Acton who have their £2,875 per week rent paid for them as housing benefit.
The council believes the story highlights some of the absurdities of the housing and benefit system.
Although the money is paid by central government and does not come from Ealing Council Tax payments, it is still public money and ultimately all taxpayers lose out.
In this specific case, the family came to the council asking for housing as they were homeless. The council had a legal obligation to help them.
The government sets national rules about what type of accommodation is appropriate and how much rent can be paid to landlords. The Department for Work and Pensions told us to house this family in a seven-bedroom property.
What will surprise and anger people is that the government publishes these rent levels so landlords are fully aware of the maximum levels that can be paid. In cases such as this, where there are very few seven-bedroom properties, landlords will obviously seek the absolute maximum. This clearly puts the council, the government and taxpayers at a significant disadvantage.
The council believes that urgent changes are needed to the government’s system and that the publication of maximum rent levels should be ended. This would enable all councils to be able to negotiate more competitive rent agreements.