Send Newham families to Stoke? It reflects a broken housing policy | Glyn Robbins | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Send Newham families to Stoke? It reflects a broken housing policy | Glyn Robbins | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

The attempt by the London borough of Newham to rehouse homeless families in Stoke is a reflection of a broken housing policy. The cap on housing benefit will inevitably lead to displacement of moderately paid and poor people from inner cities, where private landlords are profiteering from the acute undersupply of social housing. Benefit cuts are justified with the urban myth of the feckless and undeserving living in luxury at the expense of the decent and hard working. In fact, only 4% of those on housing benefit receive more than £20,000 and huge numbers of recent housing benefit claimants are people in work. Tenants don't set rents. Instead of cutting benefits, government should cap profits to private landlords.