Rent, yes.
The Housing Benefit system just about works, but it does get abused like any system giving out free money. The decision to cap it at £400 per week is spot-on I reckon, and I'd be interested to hear an argument against it.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:29, 4 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

PER WEEK!
I'm going to go on the dole if I can get me a £400 a week house.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:32, Reply)

What would you get for £400 a week in Scouserland?

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:34, Reply)

2 x Mondeos, a lockup full of moody Sergio Tachhini,
a sawn-off and two illegal pitbulls, last time I checked.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:36, Reply)

ha. Sergio Tachini - haven't seen any of that around for years.

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:37, Reply)

Or that, yes.

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:39, Reply)

Well, rent for a well-furnished-and-fancy-fittings-and-balcony-but-generic 2-bed flat is £750 per MONTH
That's what my mate pays
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:38, Reply)

If I rented out
my pokey 1928 red brick ex-council ground floor 1-bed unfurnished, I could get £1000 pcm for it.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:40, Reply)

Really?
Where do you live, in front of Buckingham Palace?
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:43, Reply)

It is stupidly expensive in London. In Kilburn (not a brilliant area to live) to buy a 2 bedroom flat would be around £425,000. A 3 bed with garden around £500,000
This sounds worringly like a Daily Heil comment. Sorry for that.
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:49, Reply)

It's ok
I'm a MASSIVE RACIST, so I won't judge you. For the difference in price, I'd go for the 3bed+garden...

So, why do all these people have to live in London? And don't say it's because of work, because they don't work; and a lot of other people has to commute.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:54, Reply)

Because the begging opportunities are so good here.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:56, Reply)

I am not sure.
Telling people where to live and forcing them out en mass smells of pogroms to me though. In the 60's Londoners were given financial incentives to move to what were called "overspill towns" such as Basingstoke, Newbury & Reading. It may be more of an option to look at that again.
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:57, Reply)

Borehamwood and Farnborough too.
Hahaha unlucky!
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:02, Reply)

Borehamwood. Eurgh. I have to go there once a month to see a client. It's a truly depressing place.

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:03, Reply)

Well, it's not telling there where to live
It's telling them "we're giving you this money, which is quite reasonable, now, where would you like to live?"
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:09, Reply)

Agreed.

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:12, Reply)

Really?
I am scared now. Maybe I am a MASSIVE RACIST after all.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:19, Reply)

Yeah, Boris Johnson was complaining that it'll mean an exodus from London
but christ, anyone who's living in a £1,600+ a month house should be able to sort a job out.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:35, Reply)

Exactly
Why am I going to have to commute for more than 1h to get to work every morning, while people on benefits can "afford" living right in the centre?
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:44, Reply)

I think you're right. I know of single people in London getting more than that at the moment which is ridiculous.
One in particular is having benefit paid to live in Notting Hill. They should move him somewhere cheaper - nothing drastic but at least to zone 2 or 3.
(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:33, Reply)

Exactly.
Benefit should be to support the worse-off, not maintain people's opulent lifestyles.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:43, Reply)

Definitely. The cost differential between what he gets now and should have to pay in somewhere like Willsden Green would pay for 2 rough sleepers to be in a hostel.

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:47, Reply)

eepers to be in a hostel appers to give me a week's shagging in a a Travelodge near Bracknell
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:58, Reply)

I wouldn't go to Bracknell for a shag. Bloody awful place.

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:00, Reply)

How about for a cormorant?

(Cave Duck, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:22, Reply)

Each borough its duty bound to house applicants, isn't it?
Inc Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:49, Reply)

Technically yes if you can prove you have a right to live in that borough. The bloke I'm talking about isn't British so he can't claim a right to have to live in Notting Hill.

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:54, Reply)

To my mind
no-one has a 'right' to live in any borough apart from the right to do so BECAUSE YOU CAN AFFORD IT.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:01, Reply)

Agreed.

(lkjshaglkasjdhglkhjz lkcvl; g;aodh;owih, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:04, Reply)

I read about a guy who has a family of 8 who's living in Notting Hill on benefits, it's pretty unfair

( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:51, Reply)

That's what I thought
I think that's abusive. You pay around £800/month for a 3 bedroom detached house in Manchester; assume it's around £1200 in London; that's still a lot less than what they get!

I understand the Con-Lib saying that it's unfair that the working people can't afford a house in London, but the people on the dole can. I'm working, and I wouldn't dare spending that much money on my house! FFS!!
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 8:42, Reply)

FOUR HUNDRED POUND A WEEK?!!
*fashions weaponry from discarded copies of the Daily Mail*
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:13, Reply)

I know
that's almost twice as much what I'm paying at the moment!

However, everybody gets very upset with the benefits thing and all that, but I think where the country is really losing money is with tax dodgers, like Vodafone.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:18, Reply)

Yes, corporate tax dodgers are worse
My MD is guilty of using tax havens. He wasn't happy when I suggested the UK should invade Jersey, therefore abolishing it as a tax haven.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:29, Reply)

Your goverment should start giving good example
and stopping the tax haven in Gibraltar. It's not exactly a tax haven, though, it's more like No-one's land, with no law and no order.
(Aberracion Life's getting very complicated, but a lot of fun., Tue 2 Nov 2010, 9:37, Reply)