British Under 25's Could Lose Housing Benefit

[Left Leanings]

Look at this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9186890/Young-unemployed-may-be-forced-to-live-with-mum-and-dad.html

People under the age of 25 can currently claim Housing Benefit, to assist them in living independently from their parents, if they are unemployed, or their wages and savings are below a certain level. But the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is thinking of abolishing these payments.

So if you are under 25 and unemployed, or on a low wage, you may well be forced to live with your parents for longer than anticipated.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

That will never pass, surely?

What if one or both of their parents are dead? What if the family home is too small? What if they literally cannot afford to live that way?

This is so reactionary it's palpably impossible to imagine.

[Railyon]

As I already posted on libcom, been a common practice in Germany for a few years now.

I think chances are good this will pass - there was next to no resistance against this where I live, and was usually even cheered on by conservatives with the whole "get a fucking job hippie" mindset.

[NoPasaran1936]

That will never pass, surely?

What if one or both of their parents are dead? What if the family home is too small? What if they literally cannot afford to live that way?

This is so reactionary it's palpably impossible to imagine.

This is the tories, who have the majority of seats in HoC. This will go through even if lib dems vote against. The issue is, why is any one surprised? What this will mean is more empty properties, and the housing market is still not stable. Will anticipate a housing bubble emerging, which obviously the fault of labour.

This could spark some problems in the summer, again, and again it will be because of 'criminals' not the under lying social inequality caused by capitalism. Perhaps this will create a sense of class consciousness. This is a time for the left to move on this, and unfortunately exploit the situation. No better time to raise awareness of alternatives to this shitty system we currently live under.

[Zav]

And the world is slowly becoming more conservative again. How lovely. Maybe we can expect a revival of class consciousness in the youth a la 1960 in a couple decades.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

And the world is slowly becoming more conservative again. How lovely. Maybe we can expect a revival of class consciousness in the youth a la 1960 in a couple decades.

One can only hope so...but if nothing really came of the 80's, miners strike, poll tax riots etc...I sometimes worry that this country's just incapable of class-conscious uprisings that actually lead somewhere.

Protest, get kettled, home in time for tea and One Show

[Ocean Seal]

And the world is slowly becoming more conservative again. How lovely. Maybe we can expect a revival of class consciousness in the youth a la 1960 in a couple decades.
I don't think we can make that generalization. Perhaps Britain is slipping into conservatism, but it seems like the rest of the world is being set of fire by class conflict.

[Stalin Ate My Homework]

Look at this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9186890/Young-unemployed-may-be-forced-to-live-with-mum-and-dad.html

People under the age of 25 can currently claim Housing Benefit, to assist them in living independently from their parents, if they are unemployed, or their wages and savings are below a certain level. But the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is thinking of abolishing these payments.

So if you are under 25 and unemployed, or on a low wage, you may well be forced to live with your parents for longer than anticipated.


Fuck this shit, now its personal. When I first became a Communist it was because I felt compassion for the poor child labourers in India or China, now I'm seeing Capitalism having a direct effect on myself and others like me.

[bricolage]

One can only hope so...but if nothing really came of the 80's, miners strike, poll tax riots etc...
the poll tax riots were in the 90s and the miners strike was the end of 'long 1970s' class upsurge. the 70s saw miners bring down the heath government, a mass of wildcats, the winter of dicontent, etc. it was following the defeat of these movements (alongside a global regrouping of capital and defeat of class revolts) that the stage was set for the defeats in the miners strike, wapping etc.


I sometimes worry that this country's just incapable of class-conscious uprisings that actually lead somewhere.
meh, lead about as far as they do anywhere else.


Protest, get kettled, home in time for tea and One Show
lol, noones ever been kettled and home in time for the one show.
events don't happen in isolation anyway, tides are slightly turning in the world, who knows where they will lead. I don't buy into the whole 'national characteristics' way of looking at things.

[bricolage]

I don't think we can make that generalization. Perhaps Britain is slipping into conservatism, but it seems like the rest of the world is being set of fire by class conflict.
I think that's a big misleading. the slip into 'conservatism' is a result of austerity packages that are being passed by every government, notably several thought to be of 'the left'. the class conflict is the response to this, which is far more intense in other countries but still exists within the UK. the tension between the two is being played out everywhere.

[NoPasaran1936]

I don't think people are slipping into conservatism, I think it's the austerity measures. The austerity measures mean people will value everything they have even more, in fear of losing it (obviously by which I mean people in credit) to the bailiffs et al. People in economic difficulty become more individualised due to the competitive nature that is created by austerity. I mean by this, jobs become scarce, you have to be the best of the best to get that job. Benefits are limited, chances are as there's more people on them the system becomes strained, people are then divided by the media and government by their propaganda "you're a hard working person who's unfortunate, they're a scroungers" is played into everyone's mind. People become detached from their communities as a consequence of the division created by government. It does appear that there was a sense of a larger community when there was economic prosperity, because people had places to work, didn't need benefits, they'd meet people with common interests in work place.

Austerity comes, and people are divided because that community of common values is torn apart by competition, in which jobs are fought for on a CV. Benefits become a scandal, and people have been told to look down upon those that are claiming any form of welfare.

Whilst this may sound like conservatism in theory, I don't think people would associate themselves with conservatives.

[TheGeekySocialist]

one must never underestimate the level of depravity within the British Conservative party.

[brigadista]

the people that this will affect the most will be kids leaving care-

and its going to greatly increase youth homelessness putting more under 25s on the street

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2011/dec/05/benefit-cuts-storm-triggers-youth-homelessness

Youth homeless is soaring. That's perhaps not entirely unexpected, given the economic climate, but it's worth looking more closely at those figures, and considering why they are soaring, why they are likely to continue to rise, and what the consequences will be for vulnerable young people. It's not a pretty sight.

The charity Homeless Link published today a survey of charities and local authorities in England, and these are the main findings:

• Nearly half of homelessness services (44%) and councils (48%) have seen an increase in young people seeking help because they are homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless
• The number one cause for homelessness among this age group is relationship breakdowns with family and friends, and cases of this have increased
• The majority (62%) of young homeless clients seen by charities were not in education, employment or training, [and] 46% were in financial difficulties
• A quarter of young clients (26%) seen by services had experience of sleeping rough.
A rise in youth homelessness is just one side of the equation, however. The other is how charities and local authorities are coping with the demand. This is what the survey found:

• 48% of homeless agencies reported turning away young single homeless people because their resources were fully stretched;
• Nearly one in five local authorities (17%) feel they are not meeting their legal requirements for homeless young people aged 16-17;
• Half of local authorities report using B&Bs [bed and breakfasts] as emergency accommodation for young people, despite Government guidelines which advise against their use;
• More than 70% of local authorities said they had no shared accommodation private sector provision for young people, despite this being the only option for young people on housing benefit; and
• 53% of homeless agencies have experienced closures or threats of closure to youth services in their area.
Dig deeper into the data on youth homelessness contained in the report and it gets no less alarming. The latest CHAIN figures compiled by the Broadway charity, which record rough sleeping in London, show that after three years of relative stability, the number of under-25 years olds on the street has spiked alarmingly:

"In the space of eight months from 1 April to 27 November 2011 CHAIN recorded 421 rough sleepers under 25. This is already a 32% increase on the number of young people rough sleeping in London within the 12 months of 2010/11... Within the under 25s, the biggest increase is found in the 18–21 age group. There were 211 rough sleepers aged 18 to 21 recorded between April and November 2011, and 139 recorded between April 2010 and March 2011. This means that the number of 18 to 21 year olds seen rough sleeping in London in the last eight months is already 52% higher than that seen in the whole of the previous year."
The Homeless Link survey (extrapolating from returns provided by 79 frontline homeless providers and 108 local authorities) estimates that in October and November 2011, approximately 16,000 young people were being supported by homeless charities. In October, 13,000 young people presented as homeless to local authorities or sought housing advice or information in October 2011 (a rate of approximately 400 a day across England). How that compares with previous years isn't shown. But almost half of both providers and councils say under-25's were increasing as a proportion of the homeless people they had contact with.

Some of the reasons why young people presented as homelessness over the past 12 months are pretty much unchanged from the previous year: domestic violence or abuse; poor housing conditions; and eviction. The big change relates to issues whose impact and prevalence have been - we might reasonably suspect - amplified by the economic downturn and growing household financial pressures: relationship breakdown with family and friends; drug and alcohol problems; and mental illness.

As demand rises, however, the capacity of local authorities and the voluntary sector to respond has shrunk dramatically: there was a 25% average cut in funding for homeless charities in 2011-12 (a quarter of whom say they can now support less homeless people as a result); funding for supported housing (which between provides essential homelessness prevention work) has been slashed. As the report says:

"All these changes in combination are creating the perfect storm for an increase in homelessness amongst young people, especially the most vulnerable, and with severe consequences. Young people experiencing homelessness can develop mental and physical health problems, accumulate problem debt, become more vulnerable to crime and find access to employment and learning further diminished."
What is not showing up yet in youth homelessness figures is the impact of housing benefit changes that take effect in 2012. According to Homeless Link, the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) own figures suggest 88,000 vulnerable young people in England will be affected by the expansion of the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR). Crisis, the homeless charity, estimates that the average loss in benefits for young people affected by the change will be £41 a week, and that the "vast majority" of this group will lose their current accommodation.

Young people driven out of a their current home by benefit cuts will be expected to find a cheaper option, most likely a room in a shared house. But the Homeless Link survey reports that this kind of accommodation is in desperately short supply in many areas, and even where it exists there is a resistance on behalf of private sector landlords to deal with young people claiming benefits. Unless this bottleneck is eased, it says, many young people "would have no option but to sleep rough".

Rising youth homeless, it says, "does not need to be an inevitable conclusion of the current financial climate". But how do you stop it? The report calls on the DWP to build safeguards into its welfare and benefit reforms to avoid "pushing already difficult family situations over the edge". It urges investment in early intervention projects - not least in family mediation services - to try to stem the expected flow of young people heading for the streets.

This looks unlikely. But the report has a sharp back-to-the-future warning about the consequences of ignoring these calls to action, which will have a vivid resonance for anyone who remembers what happened the last time a Conservative prime minister oversaw public spending cuts on a scale comparable to the present ones:

"This [early intervention and preventative action] is essential if we want to avoid a return to the levels of youth homelessness seen in the late 1980s."