Update from Councillor Stephen Govier
Minutes:
9.1 Councillor Govier, who had agreed at the previous meeting of the sub-committee to be “rapporteur” on housing benefit reform, gave an update on his work.
9.2 Councillor Govier explained that there were significant concerns for the borough, which fell into 2 main categories:
a) Impact on existing housing benefit recipients
b) Supply of housing benefit to future tenants
9.3 The changes were due to come into place very quickly, with the first phase of impact in April 2011, and further changes in October 2011.
9.4 The measures proposed to come in next year included capping the amount that can be claimed under the LHA at between £250 and £400 a week depending on property size and setting rents based on the 30th percentile of private sector rents rather than the median.
9.4 Councillor Govier had had discussions with various different parts of the council that were working on contingency plans and also partners on housing issues, including South London and Maudsley (SLAM); Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), Nacro and the Legal Advice Network.
9.5 In addition to the changes to housing benefit itself, which were initially expected to result in pulling people into the borough because rents in Southwark were lower than in some neighbouring boroughs, Councillor Govier explained that Southwark would be particularly affected by the overall cap on benefits which would affect those in work.
RESOLVED:
Councillor Govier will continue his work and provide a further report to the next meeting of the sub-committee