I have been asked how Brent Council will be affected by the Comprehensive Spending Review, and the answer is pretty grim. I thought I would cover these in a series of posts: the first on housing.
In housing, the social housing budget is being cut back severely, meaning fewer houses. At the same time, the Con Dem government wants to push up rents for social housing, cut housing benefit in London and cut jobs in the public sector. Unless you share David Cameron's optimism about the private sector generating jobs (and how can the public sector be "crowding out" private sector jobs during a deep recession?), that looks like a recipe for increased homelessness. As the authority responsible for homelessness, Brent Council will be forced to pick up the pieces.
From April 2013, the Con Dem government is also wanting to cut Council Tax benefit. The only good thing I can see is that interest rates look as if they will continue to be low, meaning that people will be able to keep up with their mortgages despite falling house prices i.e. not as many repossessions as in the Lamont years.
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