Housing Benefit for Disabled to be HALVED
Housing benefit in Ealing (and presumably throughout the UK) is being cut be 50% as from October 2012. This blanket cut applies to the able bodied, the physically disabled and the mentally disabled. At half the benefit rate disabled people will be forced to live in single rooms in houses and in hostels - sharing bathrooms and kitchens. For so many reasons this will prove painful, inappropriate and could lead to self harm.It would appear that the Tory Government's intention is for disabled people to move out of Ealing (to say Hayes or West Drayton) where they might possibly find that the even more reduced benefit on offer might buy then slightly better rented accomodation. However, moving away from family, friends, physical and psychiatric support is likely to result in significant loss in quality of life and a major increase in vulnerability.The other possible motive is to force Ealing landlords to reduce their rents. So for example if a landlord had been offering a small one bedroom flat in West Ealing for £800/month he/she would reduce the monthly rent to £400/month. However, in no-one's life time in Ealing have home rental rates dropped by 10% never mind 50%. Seemingly the disabled are being punished for the financial collapse which was caused by governemnt, financial sector and regulatory failures. What a sick world we live in.
Eric Alan Leach ● 5349d41 Comments ● 5335d