Housing
House of Lords

Lord Bradley (Labour)

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made an estimate of the number of households that will be required to move from social housing to smaller private rented accommodation with a higher rent in each constituency in Greater Manchester as a result of the reforms proposed in the Welfare Reform Bill.

Lord Freud (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Welfare Reform), Work and Pensions; Conservative)

The information requested is not available.

We are unable to accurately estimate the numbers moving out of, or into, the social rented sector as different claimants are likely to have different options available to them, and will respond in a variety of ways to the reforms proposed in the Welfare Reform Bill. Those affected by the under-occupation measure can continue to live in their current accommodation and make up any shortfall by other means, such as through employment or by using other income or savings. Alternatively they may decide to move to smaller accommodation which better reflects the size and composition of their household.

As with all new policies we plan to monitor and evaluate the effects of these changes.

The impact assessment, entitled Under-Occupation of Social Housing, provides information about the effect of the housing benefit change on different groups of claimants, and can be found at: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/social-sector-housing-under-occupation-wr2011-ia.pdf.