We return this morning to Marlin Apartments, the Newham temporary housing hellhole where homeless families with very young children are “placed” (deposited?) for years at a time.
As I wrote last week, the building is overrun with bedbugs, cockroaches, mice and rats and their many offspring, and other crawlers, biters and slimers that absolutely nobody I know would want chewing through the family’s food and feet.
I gave the bedbugs a writeup last week, and posted pictures of some of the injuries that the bedbugs and other vermin are inflicting on very young children – children who have, in some cases, lived in these terrible flats for several years. If you think that those kids are going to grow up in good shape, or grow up at all, it might be time to think again.
This morning, I’m posting pictures of some of the many cockroaches and maggots that roam and writhe through and around Marlin Apartments. It goes without saying that something major needs to be done about all of this.
One idea would be to fill a skip with several Marlin Apartments cockroach swarms, road trip them up to North Yorkshire, and dump the lot into Rishi Sunak’s lunch and bed.
The cockroaches in the pictures won’t be going, but there are plenty more where they came from (the pics are from the flat of a family who have a toddler and 4-month old baby):
Here are bugs crawling round the baby’s crib. Mum threw the crib out, because the baby was being bitten. The family can’t afford a new crib, so now, the family sleeps on the floor.
And video of maggots out the front of the building – the residents say that the communal bins overflow. There are too many people living in too small a space, with too few services.
And I haven’t even got to the serious overcrowding problems in Marlin yet, or the new problems with energy bills that residents face. They used to pay their bills as part of their rent, but now must set up individual accounts. A number of people showed me letters which demanded several hundred pounds for outstanding bills which absolutely nobody can understand.
I’m getting to that.
To finish – this picture is of one of the single rooms that families live in. I have a vague memory of someone on twitter saying that these ex-serviced apartments couldn’t be single rooms, but at least 3 of the ones I saw were, so there you go. In these single rooms, there was a bug-infested double bed (or 2 single beds pushed together), a bug-infested couch and a cot all in one space with a small kitchen at the top end.
Picture of a single-room Marlin Apartment. I”m holding the camera. There is space behind me for a couch and that’s it.
No doubt these apartments were all very nice when they were properly serviced and rented to single businesspeople who were enjoying week-long London jollies, but things have taken something of a slide since the council arranged to rent them from Marlin for homeless families. The “serviced” bit sort of disappeared from the “serviced apartments” idea.
I’ve asked Newham council for comment on this, but they’ve stopped answering. Probably nothing to say that’ll make any of this all right. Would like to see every member of Sunak’s cabinet living and working in this building, though. Lock them in the place for a year, then torch it.
Victorian poverty in 21st century UK. Beyond heart breaking
The world is run by “people” who’ve taken a flamethrower to all that is human. I increasingly want to return the favour.
Households and children in temporary accommodation at record numbers
“The numbers of households and children in temporary accommodation in England have hit new record highs in figures that have been branded “shameful”, while the level of social housing being built has been described as a “disgrace”.
The latest statistics show that 105,750 households were in temporary accommodation at the end of June, up from 104,540 at the end of March.
The figure is a new high since records began 25 years ago and an increase of 10.5% compared with the end of June last year”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23958380.households-children-temporary-accommodation-record-numbers/
Absolutely disgusting that children are having to be brought up in such diabolical conditions!
All involved who “run” this disgusting establishment should be ashamed of themselves! I bet they all have lovely, non cockroach and rat infested homes they can safety go home to and the end of their “hard” working day. Absolutely disgusting!
What is it you want to happen? Given we have high immigration, given this is Newham, is it the case that you want people from other countries to be able to come here and enjoy a high standard of living as a right at everyone else’s expense? Do you think we should restrict immigration heavily because of the problems of providing adequate social housing?
Where do you want the money to come from? From higher taxes? If so how much on whom? From other government spending? Divert money from the NHS? Or from borrowing? Resulting in a lower currency, higher food prices, higher mortgage rates?
Just to put your Right-wing rhetoric into perspective, the Tories transferred £4 Billion, that’s 4000 Million, from public funds into private hands and called the process “Austerity”. Millions more in the great Covid PPE free for all. MPs get nearly 90 grand a year, Lords get £340 per day cash in hand. They blew £16 Billion on developing and delivering Universal Credit and a decade later the process is still not completed. There’s money dripping from the fabled “magic money tree”, there must be, because the rich are getting richer by the day, and the poor and vulnerable just get poorer. There’s plenty of money, it’s about policies and political choices. King Charles is in line for a £125 Million pay rise ffs. Sunak, Johnson, Mogg, Blair, do they share their beds with cockroaches? No do they fuck. They ARE cockroaches! And yes, we do need more foreign immigrants. And more new Council Houses, in fact *SOME* new Council Houses would be a start !
Amen to that. This is an enormously wealthy world. It’s just that the enormous wealth is in the hands of a very small number of “people.” It isn’t a matter of immigration. Poor and low paid people leave low paid jobs and dreadful housing in their countries to try their luck in other countries with low paid jobs and dreadful housing. It’s all the same. There are no borders when it comes to these issues. Wherever you go, the problem is that a few people have everything and most people have nothing.
Absolutely. But don’t expect Starmer to address the issue:
“Labour criticised for ‘shameful’ dropping of wealth tax”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23750346.labour-criticised-shameful-dropping-wealth-tax/
Politics by spreadsheet. Keir is truly thrilling.
I agree with you Dipper. Pest control is also peoples responsibility, not just council. You have to wash everything in high temperatures like 2-3 times and can also call pest control yourself, especially if you have young babies. Marlin apartments used to be really lovely apartments and people should be appreciative too for being able to live there at such a great location plus we all have to pay electricity bills. Marlin Apartments is a pretty new building about 10 years old, located just by the Olympic park area. Why people cant take responsibility for dirt and mess too? Its everyones responsibility.
Cockroach infestations are a property management issue. Other pests such as fleas, bed bugs, etc. are associated with poor living conditions and overcrowding. Other diseases such as TB and Rickets for example are associated with poverty. Yes you can buy some special shampoo etc. and scrub the flat but the cockriaches and slugs are harder to get rid of. You can wash your clothes and bedding (if you have a washing machine and dryer or washing line, not everyone has) but you’ll have to replace your mattress. It’s not as simple as it sounds if you’re crammed into a small flat with kids and no money, and maybe with limited English. I don’t think people choose to live in such conditions.
Anonymous please think one second: these are people living in cramped disgusting conditions..do they even have washing machines? Launderettes are expensive. Do they have enough money to pay for the detergent to wash everything multiple times? How do they dry it in such cramped conditions, it could exacerbate the mould! I’m sure they would have replaced the beds and stuff if they could afford to. As Kate and Trev rightly say, it’s cramming people into these tiny spaces that’s causing this!!
Dipper how about we cut MP expenses, the amount they can claim for one subsided meal is more than most people have to spend in one week on food? How about we cut the Sovereign grant and make the immensely rich royals fund themselves? Yes how about we tax the rich more? They can afford it! I WORK and can’t afford a TV or TV licence! Everything we see now is the result of austerity and it just keeps getting worse. Maybe one day it could be you in the Same situation.. I never thought I’d be homeless at 58 but I was
Kat Rehman
Cutting MP expenses will generate, in practical terms, next to nothing. Cutting the Royal Family, whilst more justifiable, isn’t going to give you much in terms of the ongoing requirement either. Tax the rich more? You could do that, but the really rich will just leave the UK reducing their overall tax contribution, and others may just give up working their way up the ladder so you depress overall tax take.
As for you own personal circumstance, I don’t know your job, but if you paid less tax you could possibly afford a TV and licence, so paying for all this is costing you personally, and depending on your position you may have your income depressed by having to compete with immigrants who are prepared to work for less. And you are effectively paying for other people to compete with you for housing.
I don’t like people living in poverty, but I don’t see any way of solving this other than economic growth delivering more money to solve this, and being hard on immigration to stop an endless demand on tax revenue, The last politicians I saw with a plan were Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng but they had the rug pulled from under their feet. I don’t see anyone else with answers right now, and just saying ‘people should have more money’ isn’t a solution. It’s about as much use as saying people shouldn’t be ill they should all get better.
Lizz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng? FFS. They crashed the frigging economy overnight! He’s an idiot and she’s barking mad. Socialist policies are the only solution.
We would have heard better policies from the lettuce
The rich have the choice to give up work and move aways. Poor workers are forced to work until they drop and then get harassed by the DWP til they die. I have disc issues that could impair my mobility and I’m in pain every day: I still have to go cleaning. Did you read Kate’s comments about the kids in Marlin, 5 years old and non verbal? These are the future workers, the future gig economy workers, the future zero hours workers, probably stunted and disabled by their appalling childhoods. Do you really think they will respect society when they’ve been treated like trash? Will they even be able to work at all?
I’m not a Corbynite. I used to be a socialist. Now I think I’m more of an anarchist. Right wingers such as those here, I won’t name them, make me proud to be a union rep and political activist.
I would like to add to this in that there are many more white people in these accommodations than you think. You could check the statistics on the gov website or you could take my word considering I’m one of them white peoples amongst around at least 15 other white families and 2 Asian families who are all British born lol.
This is what happens when you crowd people into a place and remove services to it. It isn’t a question of pulling finger and getting in there with a sponge and a squirt of Ajax. People in Marlin are forever cleaning, hoovering, putting down traps and chucking out bedding and cribs which have become infested. One family was fumigating their place once a week. God knows what that was doing to their kid’s lungs. These flats were never designed for families. They were designed to rent to business types for short stays. Business people who come to London for work are out all day. They bring one suitcase with them and only return to the apartment to sleep. When they’re being used for professionals, serviced apartments are kept vacuumed and clean. Rubbish is removed. When you dump families in rooms meant for one person who would hardly be there, you create all sorts of problems, and here we are. Point is that there are people all over who are being crammed into too-small places and being left to fight it out with the legions of vermin that emerge and thrive when there are too many people and not enough maintenance. Once fleas, bedbugs and cockroaches get going, they are hard to stop. Meanwhile, Sunak arses around in Disneyland and government after government gifts mountains of public money to their useless private sector mates to deliver fuck knows what. Dido Harding needs to do a year in this building. There’s someone who really could use being gnawed out by rats
There are two problems with most of the opinions expressed here, which are representative of the Corbynite left.
The first is that assumes that there is some large pot of money which we can risklessly tap into, which rightfully belongs to ‘the people’. This pretty much goes against all human history. It is the capitalist system, where individuals can generate economic value through work and profit from it that generates wealth. We are ‘fortunate’ in having a couple of examples in history where countries have been split with one half pursuing capitalism and one communism, namely Germany and Korea, and the evidence form those two is that capitalism works and communism doesn’t.
The second is that it is an utterly miserable view of humanity to see people as just recipients of money, as though the ambition of most people is to live a life of subsidy without achievement. Its a vision of a powerless underclass as some kind of utopia.
Newham is a borough in London. London is probably the leading world city right now. Every opportunity is available to citizens of London in a way it isn’t to citizens of, say, Devon, Norfolk, or pennine towns. For people in London not to be able to pay their own way indicates some real failures to take advantage of opportunities. What would be useful is to understand the barriers that stop some of the folks here getting jobs, and what can be done to remove those barriers.
Let’s see, Dipper… How about a lot of “jobs” now are part time, to save employers paying NI and pension contributions, or they’re zero hours where the person isn’t guaranteed any hours? Or how about how miserably low wages are, and people need benefits top ups? One 55 year old man did what Mel Stride suggested and became a just eat food courier on a push bike. In 3 hours he earned £15.00. How about the high cost of transport? And for those “living” in Marlin, they’re probably exhausted by being in the same room as crying kids, and their health is suffering with the mould, and wildlife. When you look at MP expenses and allowances, and think a single over 25 year old gets around £80 a week benefits, well really!!!
I don’t live in London, but I work, and had to move last year after being illegally evicted 2 ce in less than 4 years. I wasn’t claiming anything and was paying over half my wage for a room in a shared house…and I’m in my 50’s! I was deemed legally homeless at 58 and have finally been housed in social housing. Homelessness can happen to anyone…let’s hope it never happens to you, it’s not nice believe me
‘One 55 year old man did what Mel Stride suggested and became a just eat food courier on a push bike. In 3 hours he earned £15.00.’
One set of people see someone paid so poorly they need benefits to survive. Another set of people see the government subsidising fundamentally uneconomic activity.
As for that rental crisis in London, That sits at the door of Sadiq Khan. And to make an obvious point, if you import lots of immigrants and don’t build houses, you will have a housing crisis.
The immigrants don’t get council houses, they get the bloody Bibby Stockholm!! As for economically in/active people, some people are active for 35+ hours a week slaving on minimum wage and still need a top up of Universal credit… immigrants didn’t set this low wage! Not did they invent zero hours contracts or the gig economy. You right wingers are buying into the rhetoric…it’s the immigrants/ single mums/ disabled people’s faults, it’s everybody’s fault save the GOVERNMENT who are implementing these sick policies!! Divide and rule!! And you’re falling for it you right wingers
Oh please save the lecture on Capitalism. It sees humans as a ‘Resource’, as workers who can create wealth for the Directors and shareholders, nothing to do with misguided notions of “achievement”. The trickle down economy doesn’t work, the imbalance in wealth is proof enough of that never mind the exponential growth in poverty since the Tories gained power and the huge expansion of foodbanks in our society. It works fine for those at the top, the 1% who doubled and even trebled their wealth throughout so-called ‘Austerity’ and through both Brexit and the Covid pandemic. Social policies are entirely viable in a mixed economy as has been proved pre-Thatcher. We need to re-Nationalize Utilities and Transport for a start off, and Royal Mail whilst we’re at it. Privatising Royal Mail was yet another scam to transfer public wealth into private hands. The Tories are a bunch of shysters and con men. They love people like you, the Working Class Tory, that enigma who would walk 5 miles to vote Tory even if it means borrowing a pair of boots to do so. There us plenty of money in the collective pot, earned and made by the workers, but through Political choice syphoned off by the rich instead of being spent on providing adequate essential public services (including a functional Social Security system and NHS).
P. S.
Corbyn didn’t invent Socialism, it’s been around for a while.
Doesn’t matter whether you’re a Corbynite or not. This is end stage capitalism whichever way you look at it. People I’ve written about in Marlin are working – they just can’t earn enough to pay a London rent, but they need to be in big towns to make some sort of income. Uber drivers and takeout delivery drivers need a lot of people to drive and deliver to. It’s cutthroat. The issue isn’t a failure of application. It’s a failure of capitalism – wages too low and living costs too high, and a big shortfall every day as a 24-7 consumer society demands more for less from people who can’t escape low paid work and bad housing. That’s just maths. It isn’t Corbynism exclusively. I’m not a Corbyn supporter myself. I just know what I’m looking at.
This was for Dipper btw
Can’t work out how my own threads work
We’ve had 13 years on Conservatism, of pro-Capitalist policies, and the country is on its knees. Something like 15 Million people living in poverty, 3+ Million relying on foodbanks, huge increase in homelessness, cost of living spiralling out of control, inflation rising, extortionate fuel bills, ridiculous rents. And the wider picture, 40+ years of neoliberalism. For many people just getting through each day is an achievement, managing to eat a meal or to feed the kids is an achievement. And if you are working and trying to work your way out of poverty, good luck, because it will take years and a lot more than £10.40 per hour.
It’s a fair comment trev but I missed your policy proposal.
Saying ‘these people shouldn’t be poor’ doesn’t make you a politician any more than me saying ‘people shouldn’t get cancer’ makes me a doctor.
I don’t know what planet your on, what your problem is or wtf you are talking about. I’ve stated my case; Socialism good, Conservatism bad. What more can I say? I’ve said my policy clearly. Tax the rich out of existence. Nationalise all essential services, energy, utilities, transport, royal mail. Spend on providing quality public servicesbinstead of enacting policies that transfer wealth upwards. Fix the broken Social Security system and/or introduce a Basic Income. etc etc. It’s not difficult to imagine, it worked before (pre-Thatcher) and in my childhood when rents were affordable and decent council houses were available and the cost of living was affordable and there were no foodbanks just soup kitchens for homeless alcoholics not for working families and ordinary unemployed. Jobs were ten a penny. No CVs, no computers, everything that mattered State owned and Society functioned very well. Make today like the 1960s. Enact policies that do that and I’ll be happy.
Hear hear Trev you so talk sense.
Nice trev. Go back to the 60s. That’s low immigration and an economy subsidised by the empire.
You could get a pack of Woodbines for a tanner. Those were the days.
They certainly were. We had an outside toilet but at least it functioned, not like the ones in some of these flats that are leaking all through the building (reported by KB in the past).
I don’t remember Woodbines for a Tanner, that must have been before my time, more like two bob or maybe one & six. I was smoking Park Drive tipped that cost a Shilling and we’re sold to kids in a slim pack of 5 specially designed to appeal to children, that was about 1970, then when new money came in they cost 5&half New Pence.
There were plenty of immigrants as I recall, my school was very mixed. And I think the Swinging Sixties were Britain coming to terms with the loss of Empire, out with the old and in with the new, the Mini car, mini skirt, Mary Quant, Carnaby St. and Sgt. Pepper. And we still had a huge manufacturing base in those days with booming exports.
Wandering slightly off topic into the shambles that is Universal Credit…
“Thousands lose benefits after tax credits overpaid”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66579436
Jobcentres finally coming under scrutiny….
“Employment support services failing businesses and jobseekers, says think tank”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23767540.employment-support-services-failing-businesses-jobseekers-says-think-tank/
You don’t need a Thick Tank to know that. Or is that Think Thick Tank. The Education Minister is getting educated & don’t like it, swearing like a common Tory peasant. Bob The Builder, No we can’t. Striking Teachers striking over unsafe working conditions. Cutting corners over Health & Safety. The only way the Tories stand a chance at the Election is Rishi has to go to a budget supermarket to relate to the voting public. Can’t see that happening.
Cockroaches don’t like the smell of eucalyptus. I used in my London Council Flat put some eucalyptus oil (a £1 for a small bottle) about a quarter in a hot bowl of water & wipe the surfaces & walls down with a jay cloth or sponge. Errrgh I don’t like the smell of your kitchen, the cockroach says. Well I think it is a very nice smell, anyway there is no disputing who’s kitchen it is.
We also had Ghost Ants the very little critters.
Back to work slide & on the job Mel Stride,
Denied, spied & ride, we thrive in Stride with Mel,
Some say what the hell, being working is ringing the bell,
DWP Ministers come & fell, ending at the Home Office dell,
Quelling, belling & billing being the DWP is so thrilling,
Die With Pride at the DWP, what do you feed them on !
Mel Stride ending so long, at the end of the job,
Bob’s Stride your uncle,
The latest DWP/JCP buzzwords are
“Universal Support programme”, coming soon to a Jobcentre near you.
“Working Together: The case for universal employment support”
https://demos.co.uk/research/working-together-the-case-for-universal-employment-support/
So “low” unemployment but a record number of vacancies, are there even enough unemployed to fill them, even assuming they could? And what are these “job?” Probably more 2 hours a week ones on a Sunday night like the one I was offered
They are coming for the elderly, sick and disabled….
“Health Secretary pledges support for back problems to get people back to work”
“Our ground-breaking Major Conditions Strategy will help improve the quality of life for people living with one or more of the six conditions that lie behind most of the ill health in England.”
“Many of those currently out of work due to a health condition would love to find rewarding and fulfilling employment.”
“job coaches are set to be stationed at GP surgeries as part of plans to get unemployed over-50s back to work.”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23765042.health-secretary-pledges-support-back-problems-get-people-back-work/
“job coaches are set to be stationed at GP surgeries ………”
Will the now called Job Coaches, not work Coaches help the patients down to the chemist to sort out their prescriptions or will that get in the way !!!
We might actually be saved from this in our neighborhood because you can’t get a GP appointment, so the chances of some DWP wally grabbing you outside the surgery are nearly zero. Not much comfort I warrant, but some. The only people who can get GP appointments are ones who are nearly dead. I haven’t talked to anyone who has had an appointment for ages, so maybe most people who manage to get to see a GP are so far gone that they do drop dead. Not that the DWP wouldn’t find them fit for work.
So the Job Coaches are waiting around for a GP appointment but can never get one. Good work if you can get it £32,000 a year waiting around all day waiting for something to happen. We could all end being a Job Coach waiting around all day doing nothing.
Oh shit, I hadn’t seen a doctor for about 7 years up until this year and over the past few months I’ve had several appointments with three different GPs, and several hospital appointments including two x rays, two endoscopy procedures, two Consultant appointments Rheumatology and Gastrology, and am now waiting for another endoscopy anytime soon to check/confirm that my stomach ulcer has healed, followed by another referral to Rheumatology hopefully to get meds prescribed for my RA and then I can get on with going back to the Gastrologist for my hernia sorting out. Meantime, I’m classed as fit for work and am constantly applying for jobs whilst still attending the Work & Health Programme. Anyway, sorry for starting my own off topic mini thread! I’m just very wary of the recent news of the new Employment Support thing and whatever that means won’t be good you can guarantee. All I want to do is bloody Retire!
This won’t work in a lot of cases. I personally and many other people my age have problems due to wear and tear, years of doing physical jobs. I do exercises for my sciatica, which is more or less under control, but my disc problem in my neck is where the discs moved closer together due to wear and tear(official diagnosis) and I was advised over 3 years ago to stop cleaning (so obviously I’m still cleaning). I’m guessing it’s the same for a lot of others my age. Now I struggle to stand and clean for 2 hours, so that pretty much rules out retail or factory. Reasonable adjustments only go so far, mopping kills me but it’s a staple cleaners job! My work coach keeps banging on about my transferable skills and is sending me for office jobs. Employers aren’t seeing transferable skills. I honestly don’t care now. As to jobcentre in the doctor’s, I avoid going as much as I can to the doctor anyway as I have limited trust in big pharma, it has its own agenda. Unless I was mandated, I’d refuse to engage with the jobcentre at my doctor’s. Can’t see much coming of this
I’m sure a few years ago the same idea, job coaches in surgeries was also floated but it died the death? I think it was proposed in Islington or somewhere?
Yes, we did a few protests about it. It really has been one shite idea after another from that lot.
There’s more plans afoot…
“Disabled could be offered more support to work from home under benefits reforms”
“People with disabilities could be given more help to work from home as part of plans to reduce the numbers claiming sickness benefits, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.”
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23769304.disabled-offered-support-work-home-benefits-reforms/
None of these Benefit Reforms are not going to happen until 2025. So it is all hot air with a Mel Stride fart.
The Tories might be out by then but whatever plans they are setting in place now will be completed by Starmer if he gets in. But by then we’ll be embroiled in a UN/NATO land invasion of Russia aka WW3 so Jobcentre reforms might take a back seat.
Just to bang on, in Newham, or possibly Tower Hamlets, The immigrant population is over 50%, 42% of people over 16 are economically inactive, and 65% live in socially rented property.
Lots of immigrants come to the UK and thrive. Lots of people from West Africa, India, Eastern Europe, Hong Kong, come here and do well.
Why are yours failing?
Welcome to Brexit.
The cockroach Tories are now shutting down schools because of cockroach infestation eating the concrete. Will that sort it out quicker having cockroaches !!!
There are still many schools, hospitals, care homes with the same banned Grenfell tower Cladding.
Will the Tories get through the first week back at work without making it worse !!
Liz Truss urges PM to cut taxes and benefit increases
“Rishi Sunak should cut taxes, reduce benefit increases, raise the retirement age and delay net-zero commitments, his predecessor Liz Truss is set to say.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66836347
What can you say? Has anyone got a straightjacket and a spare sock?
Bring in pest control
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o8uw8HtQhQ
DWP Open consultation
Work Capability Assessment: activities and descriptors
Updated 6 September 2023
Gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/work-capability-assessment-activities-and-descriptors/work-capability-assessment-activities-and-descriptors
I’ve heard that my landlord is putting all the rents up, though I’ve yet hear in person, does anyone know what the upper limit is that HB will pay for a one bedroom flat these days or does it vary regionally? Mine is currently £80 p/w. but due to increase by I don’t know how much. The guy upstairs has been told his is going up by £100 p/m, from £360 to £460. Mine is per 4 weeks, £320, so dunno how much of an increase yet.
LHA varies depending on the market area you’re in. What’s your local council again? – they usually have local rates on their sites
Cheers I’ll have a look. Kirklees.
It’s saying limit is £85 for a single person in a one bed flat. So if they increase my rent by more than a fiver a week I’ll have to pay the difference.
And/or there is this calculator https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx
If it helps, in Swansea they pay £450 for a 1 bed. Something needs to be done with LHA, my rent for my housing association 1 bed flat and service charges combined is £562 a month and because it’s social housing, it’s all paid
Well that’s interesting to know Kat. I have my name down on a waiting list for over-60s housing provided by a HA but I was just thinking that if I’m offered a place I wouldn’t be able to afford it as they are one bed flats at £420 per month inc. Service charge. But if the Local Council will pay it I’d be OK. I’m toying with the idea of going on the sick, so far as that means at the moment, I’m mulling it over. Right now I’m still on old JSA but am sick of having to constantly think about job searching and applying for jobs for the sake of it even though I’m not fit to work. My time on the Work & Health Programme is almost up (thank God) so I’m thinking of getting a fit note and applying for LCWRUC (what a mouthful) seeing as the Tories have “simplified” the Benefits system (yeah, right), Low Capacity for Work Related Universal Credit. But I think I’ll wait until I’ve had the next £300 cost of living payment as I don’t want to possibly mess that up by having g changes to my circumstances going on. I’m also still waiting for hospital appointments. But seriously it’s reached a point where I have to admit to myself that I’m not fit to work with this Rheumatoid Arthritis, (not to mention the hernia and stomach ulcer), I’ve had to buy a walking stick for when I need it at times when the Arthritis is attacking my knees/feet/ankles, which is agony and I can’t even walk from the bedroom to the kitchen. There’s no way I can work. Getting to the shops or launderette can be difficult and it’s got to the stage where I don’t even make it to my voluntary work at the foodbank every week now.
iI’m saddened to hear about your situation Trev. I hope you get some relief from your ailments soon. .Kat is correct, rent paid to social landlords is still covered by Housing Benefit, though with UC it’s called the Housing benefit element, but crucially it covers 100% of the rent and the usual service charges as well, but not heat and water, if those are included,
I’m now officially retired and on the state pension plus, at the moment full Housing Benefit and Council ‘tax support, though that will reduce a little when I sort out my claim for the very small local authority pension I have. (Less than £1000 a year).
I kinda messed up a little back in May just before i made my claim for my pension as I was a missing a year’s full NI payment to get the full state pension amount, so i paid the shortfall of £47 for that year. Had I not made that payment I would have been eligible for Pension Credit which is a gateway to other benefits, but there we go. As it is I’m still hugely better off than I was.
Anyone here approaching retirement age could do worse than visit AgeUK’s online calculator to get an indication of what they’ll likely receive in terms of state pension and other benefits.
I hope your application for the HA flat goes well Trev, and that soon you’ll have somewhere that’s affordable, warm and dry to live.
And now the slugs have returned. On four separate nights I’ve found a slug of same size in same place on floor by corner of kitchen sink cupboard. The entire kitchen wants ripping out and replacing, hasn’t been done for decades by looks of it. And in the latest news Jeremy Hunt is vowing to toughen up Benefit Sanctions, the same Sanctions that the DWP’s own Report said are ineffective and counterproductive, concurring with previous academic research, but Conservative Conference wouldn’t be the same without some Benefit bashing.
Trev, I hope you soon sort something out. It sounds as if your flat isn’t fit for purpose. Yes, it says on the website understanding universal credit, council/ social housing rents paid in full, and if you got a housing association place, that’d be a change of circumstances so you might have to claim UC anyway. I hope you feel better soon, I sympathize, I’m in pain every day with my discs, I’m still cleaning
Trev, as well,, you can check what you’d get via an online benefit calculation, like Turn to Us or Entitled to, where you key in your postcode and whether you rent private, or are a social tenant, owner occupier etc. I do one every month as my income can vary, and it’s always been accurate so far
The other thing with local housing allowance, in most cases an under 35 year old only qualifies for the shared house rate, IE room in a shared house. If that same under 35 year old was offered a council or housing association studio/ one bed place,, they would get that full rent as different rules apply. The system badly needs an overhaul
*Off Topic
Ministers ramp up hostile rhetoric, a decade after Osborne, Cameron and Duncan Smith
By John Pring on 5th October 2023
Category: Benefits and Poverty
“Conservative ministers have used their party conference to ramp up rhetoric that blames disabled people on out-of-work benefits for the country’s economic problems, just as they did in the post-2010 coalition government.”
Cont.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/ministers-ramp-up-hostile-rhetoric-a-decade-after-osborne-cameron-and-duncan-smith/
More of the same from Labour…
Labour would ensure ‘everyone who can work, does’
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/23842957.labour-ensure-everyone-can-work-does
Between them, both the Tories and Nu Labour are using the sick & disabled as Political pawns.
“Ms Kendall said “Britain isn’t working”, with more than two million people shut out of the workplace because of sickness or disability but wanting to work.
She added: “Under Labour, this will change. Our top priority will be ensuring everyone who can work, does. Because we believe the benefits of work go beyond a payslip – and in the dignity and self-respect good work brings.”
“A Labour government would ensure “everyone who can work, does”, the shadow work and pensions secretary has said.”
“Liz Kendall used her key note speech at the party conference in Liverpool to set out how Labour would fix economic inactivity in the UK.”
“She told delegates “real opportunities” will be matched by “the responsibility to take them up”, suggesting a Labour government could change the welfare system.”
“Last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reiterated the Government’s commitment to make benefits sanctions harsher.
“Ms Kendall said “Britain isn’t working”, with more than two million people shut out of the workplace because of sickness or disability but wanting to work.”
She added: “Under Labour, this will change. Our top priority will be ensuring everyone who can work, does. Because we believe the benefits of work go beyond a payslip – and in the dignity and self-respect good work brings.”
“Ms Kendall said Labour would tackle the root causes of worklessness by recruiting thousands more mental health staff, overhauling skill and transforming employment support.”
“Ms Kendall added: “Our new deal for working people will cut poverty, increase wages and improve workers’ rights. And we’ll make sweeping changes to job centres so they don’t just help people get work but get on in their work.”
“This is our contract with the British people – real opportunities matched by the responsibility to take them up.”
What a load of twaddle, just the same old guff we’ve been hearing from Tory and Labour for the last 25 years. She even used the exact same terminology as Blair’s New Labour 20+ years ago! “new deal for the unemployed”
Sheffield landlord dubbed ‘Britain’s worst’ given longest ban on letting properties in country
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/sheffield-landlord-dubbed-britains-worst-27855368
Gove admits ‘regret’ over number of children living in temporary accommodation
Michael Gove has said he cannot look at official figures showing a record number of children living in temporary accommodation with “anything other than regret” and blamed not enough homes being built.
The Housing Secretary admitted that “for years now we have not been building enough homes” and that the Government has missed the supply target of at least 300,000 new homes per year.
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/national/24313480.gove-admits-regret-number-children-living-temporary-accommodation/
Now this news is just breaking…
‘Ants are everywhere’: Labour MP’s tenants reveal condition of flats
30 August 2024
“A Labour MP rents out flats with black mould and ant infestations, the BBC has discovered.
Jas Athwal, the newly-elected MP for Ilford South, owns 15 rental flats, making him the biggest landlord in the House of Commons.
In one block of seven flats owned by Mr Athwal nearly half the tenants said they had to regularly clean their bathroom ceilings to remove mould.
The BBC also saw evidence of ant infestations in a number of the seven properties.
“The ants are everywhere,” one resident said, pointing to insects climbing up a door frame. “They are on my kid’s body and on their clothes.”
Another resident said they had been threatened with eviction by the letting agent if they complained about problems in their flat or started claiming benefits.
Mr Athwal said the properties were managed by an agency, he had not been aware of these problems, and denied any tenant had been threatened with eviction.
He said he did not take on tenants on housing benefit to avoid conflicts of interest with his role as the local council leader.
He described himself as a “renters’ champion”.”
(continues)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyg1j0lv1go