Housing Benefit Cuts “Good” For Young People Says Government
More young people who can’t find work will end up on the streets as the Government goes ahead with plans to end housing support payments for under-21s.
Despite protests by homelessness charities for the Prime Minister, Theresa May, to drop the policy, officials published secondary legislation to go ahead with the plans on Friday, while most MPs were at home in their constituencies.
But in a bizarre spin, a spokesperson for the Department of Works and Pensions says this will actually be good for young people!
The spokesperson said: “We want to make sure that 18 to 21-year-olds do not slip straight into a life on benefits, which is why we are helping young people get the training, skills and experience they need to move into a job and build a career.”
“This government is delivering on its commitment to ensure young people in the benefit system face the same choices as young people who work but may not be able to afford to leave home. We know that personal circumstances will differ so we have worked closely with charities and the housing sector to develop a fair and robust set of exemptions to protect the most vulnerable young people.”
But critics have hit out at the plan. Roger Harding, director of campaigns, policy and communications at Shelter, warned that despite the exemptions “tampering with this vital safety net will result in more young people being left to fend for themselves on the streets”.
“The option of being able to live with your parents is not one that is open to everyone. These cuts will affect those who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in desperately difficult situations,” he said. “Whether these young people are escaping an abusive household or thrown out because of their sexuality, they’ll now have the added, sometimes impossible, burden of having to prove they can’t go home. If they can’t, their only option may be to sleep rough.”
Labour’s shadow Secretary of State for Housing, John Healey, said the policy would make homelessness worse. “This disgraceful cut to housing support will leave thousands of young people with nowhere to go. Many could end up on the streets,” he warned.
“These young people are old enough to fight for their country but, in Theresa May’s Britain, not old enough to get the same help with housing costs as everyone else. Ministers would do well to remember that the shameful doubling of rough sleeping since 2010 is a direct result of decisions they have made. With this decision they will make the scandal of rising homelessness worse still.”
