Section: Welfare Benefits
NEW REPORT LOOKS AT THE IMPACT OF WELFARE REFORM
Posted 09.04.14
A report from Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) - The impact of welfare reform on social landlords and tenants - shows the impact of multiple changes to the benefits system on tenant's everyday lives.
In particular:
- People are choosing between heating and eating. Three quarters have cut back on food bills and others have been referred to food banks. Tenants told researchers - anxiety and insecurity are on the increase and they are becoming more reliant on emergency support, rather than less.
- People are becoming more vulnerable to debt. Over half are borrowing cash from family and friends to pay for essentials. Tenants have sold family possessions to help cover costs.
- Tenants - with help from their landlords - are putting a renewed focus on finding work, apprenticeships, training and skills in response to the changes. However those in jobs - which tended to be in low-paid service roles with short hours - were worried about falling incomes and job security.
The report also highlights the impact of welfare reform on social landlords:
- Housing providers are having to check more rigorously whether new applicants can afford the rent, thus increasing the difficulty of getting the poorest into social housing in the most places.
- The reforms have transferred costs to landlords: associations are providing information, advice on jobs and benefits, tackling fuel poverty and meeting crises through hardship funds and support for food banks. They increasingly advise tenants about juggling rent, Council Tax payments, and food and energy bills.
- All associations are clear that rising fuel costs are a cause of increasing poverty, but its impact has intensified since welfare reform began. Energy-saving advice and investment are growing priorities for social landlords.
Report author, Anne Power, from LSE, said:
"Welfare reform may end up making tenants more, not less, dependent, and certainly more vulnerable. Cut backs in support make people on low incomes, in work and out, more vulnerable to debt, at risk of eviction and short of essentials, so they rely on food banks and other emergency support.
"Tenants often now see their landlords as a lifeline. Landlords have responded by working more closely with their tenants, but these services have costs, which could leave less money for building new homes."
