Criminal landlords will lose benefit payments under Labour plan

England’s criminal landlords will face restrictions on benefit payments they receive for running substandard properties in supported housing, the government has announced.

The plan was revealed alongside news of a £300m allocation for new affordable housing.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government funding will deliver 2,800 additional affordable homes within the next year.

Local authorities will also receive £50m – £20m in new funding and £30m reallocated – to create 250 homes, preventing families from needing poor-quality temporary accommodation like B&Bs.

The housing crisis

Housing secretary Angela Rayner said: “For so many families, and their children, the security and safety of a home of their own remains firmly out of reach – and instead they have to live in temporary accommodation, including in B&Bs.

“This is unacceptable and is the result of the housing crisis we are facing head on.

“That’s why we’re driving forward on our plans to ensure a better future for everyone who needs a safe home, building on our plans to drive up living standards and build 1.5 million homes through our Plan for Change.”

Exploiting uncapped housing benefit

The government will detail its strategy next week to tackle exploitative ‘rogue’ and criminal landlords who are receiving uncapped housing benefit for delivering poor accommodations.

Labour points to ‘horrendous cases’ which include criminal gangs buying large properties and putting vulnerable people in mouldy rooms with just a bed.

No care is delivered, and some cases have seen rape victims being housed with sex offenders.

Also, these landlords don’t tackle ‘open drug use and anti-social behaviour’ which have overwhelmed streets in Blackpool, Birmingham, Blackburn and Hull.

A new licensing scheme

To tackle these issues, Labour says it will also unveil a new licensing scheme and tougher standards.

It also says that its housing strategy will generate the largest expansion of social and affordable home construction in decades.

A £300 million injection into the Affordable Homes Programme will see the building of up to 2,800 additional residences.

Currently, there are more than 123,000 households, including 160,000 children, living in temporary housing, with nearly 6,000 families with children placed in B&Bs.

The £500 million Budget allocation for up to 5,000 more affordable homes, supplements the programme’s existing £11.5 billion to deliver up to 130,000 homes by 2026.

Another £450 million has been distributed to 150 councils to alleviate the strain on homelessness support and reduce expenditure on unsuitable B&B placements.

However, the Conservatives say the plans for more homes will not address the housing shortage ‘because immigration will just keep piling on the pressure’.

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