On and On

Been busy at work this last few days. Not bedroom tax issues, simply lots of work, recruiting and feeding backto unsuccessful candidates and paperwork etc. The joys of recruitment and selection in the public sector.

My organisation is about to turn itself upside down in a bid to deal with the challenges posed by the bedroom tax and Universal credit to our income stream. It won’t be long before I’m being interviewed for a job and not the other way round.

At the moment 65% of our income is paid direct to us by the government in the form of Housing Benefit. Universal Credit will roll the clock back to the early 80’s ( sound familiar) and this benefit designed to help the unemployed and low waged pay their rent will get paid direct to the recipient.

 

Public Sector landlords wil then have to collect the rent from their tenants. You may ask what is wrong with that. In principle absolutely nothing, after all my mortgage lender doesn’t know whether I’m going to pay my mortgage or not each month. They don’t get a guaranteed income from the state.

I was claiming benefit, as it happens in 1983, when Housing Benefit was rolled out. So I went from one fortnight getting my benefit plus rent in my Giro ( no mandatory bank accounts then) to the next fortnight just getting my benefit not the rent money. I was miffed as it meant my plan to “borrow” some of that rent money to buy a “treat” couldn’t happen. And this is what is bothering a lot of social housing professionals. Some people won’t pay their rent. Some like me will pay when it suits , some will pay sometimes, some will pay it all. Me? Well professionally I don’t like the idea , personally I think why not.

 

Landlords will just have to try harder to make the case about rent and services and you can't have something for nothing.