Housing Benefit in Brent

Dave Hill reports on the fallout from George Osborne's cap on housing benefit in various London Boroughs. Here in Brent, it will be a north/south issue.

The north is cheaper than the south so people living there will not see their benefit affected directly. However people forced out of central London boroughs like Westminster or Camden may well want to move the relatively short distance up the Jubilee Line to northern Brent. If that happens we can expect increasing pressure on the housing stock, more overcrowding, a demographic change in the composition of northern parts, and (I would think) upward pressure on rents as the increased demand feeds through.

In the south, the benefits cap would affect many people, probably forcing some of them to move. This might accelerate the trend towards gentrification that you already see in Brondesbury, Mapesbury, Queens Park, Kilburn and the western part of Kensal Green.

By making people homeless, the policy is also likely to put extra pressure on Council services at the same time that Brent Council is seeing its central government funding cut.

However, I have not been able to find any figures as to the number of people affected yet.