̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Centre for Housing and Planning Research

Mini ‘mod’ homes can help rough sleepers get off the streets for good

fpjl2 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 08:28:41 +0000

Small, inexpensive units made from factory-built components can help to restore the health, relationships and finances of formerly homeless residents, according to a new study.

Beyond the pandemic: tackle the digital divide

lw355 — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 08:00:52 +0000

Increased working, learning and interacting online during the pandemic has widened the gap for those who lack digital skills or access, writes Gemma Burgess, an expert on social inequality and housing in the UK. She suggests strategies to tackle the digital divide and avoid millions of the poorest in the UK being left even further behind.

Opinion: Coronavirus has intensified the UK’s digital divide

fpjl2 — Wed, 06 May 2020 11:54:39 +0000

̽��ֱ��coronavirus lockdown risks turning the problem of digital exclusion into a catastrophe of lost education and opportunity for the UK’s poorest and most vulnerable, write researchers Hannah Holmes and Dr Gemma Burgess.

Areas of Britain most affected by ‘bedroom tax’ are hardest to downsize in, research finds

fpjl2 — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 11:38:30 +0000

Research commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) on the implementation and effects of housing benefit cuts for those working-age tenants judged to have ‘spare’ bedrooms in social housing has been released today.

Part of the Welfare Reform Act of 2012, the cuts in housing benefit – termed the Removal of Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) by the DWP, and dubbed by some as the ‘Bedroom Tax’ – has proved divisive, leading to public protests throughout the country. ̽��ֱ��policy impacts on around half a million households in the UK.

̽��ֱ��latest report is the second and final piece of research into the impact of the RSRS by Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Centre for Housing and Planning Research, in association with Ipsos Mori. Commissioning the research was a condition imposed by the House of Lords for passing the Welfare Reform bill. An interim report of Cambridge research was published by the DWP in July 2014.

̽��ֱ��new report, which brings the analyses up to November 2014 to cover the first twenty months of RSRS implementation, shows a drop in affected households of 14.2% during that time – from 547,000 to 465,000 – with the greatest reduction in London.

Landlord surveys suggest that between policy enactment in April 2013 and autumn last year up to 45,000 had downsized within the social sector – no more than 8% of those affected by RSRS. A further 87,000 affected claimants were still seeking to downsize in November 2014.

‘High pressure’ areas such as London and the South East, where overcrowding is a major issue and space is a premium, have the lowest number of tenants affected by the RSRS and the highest rates of successful downsized rehousing.

Researchers say this is mainly down to the types of housing stock prevalent in these areas: more one-bed properties within local authorities, and more tenants available to swap with overcrowded families, which may ultimately have a ‘positive knock-on effect’ in such areas.

However, in much of the rest of the UK, particularly areas such as Wales and the North East of England where overcrowding is not such a problem, there is a gulf between the size of households and that of available social housing stock: a dearth of much needed one-bed properties and a surplus of three-bed properties, the hardest to let under the RSRS.

“While research found similar rates of registration for downsizing, it’s much harder for some tenants to downsize than for others,” said Anna Clarke, co-author of the report from Cambridge’s Department of Land Economy.

Under the RSRS, children under the age of ten are expected to share a room. Those of the same gender under 16 are also expected to share. Pensioners, however, the group most likely to ‘under-occupy’ according to research, are exempt from the cuts.

Clarke points out that to be correctly occupying a three-bed property, for example, a family would need three children or two different gendered children over ten.

“Rehousing would normally be within a local authority, so the problem is compounded in areas with limited types of property. Some areas have stock consisting largely of suburban council estates full of three-bed houses. Yet most people at the point of applying for housing are single, or young families with one or two small children, and so would be considered to be under-occupying a property that size,” Clarke said.

Many local authorities told researchers there are not enough one-bed properties for single people and childless couples who need a home, particularly now they are competing with downsizers since the RSRS. ̽��ֱ��research found that social landlords are often reluctant to put people into shared housing, seeing it as a retrograde step.

“There is not much hope of finding a smaller property,” one local advice agency told researchers. “This week there is one one-bedroom flat available on the CBL system, and there are 120 bids on it.”

Young people – particularly single young people – will struggle the most to access social housing as a result, says Clarke. She recently completed research for the charity Centrepoint showing that a quarter of 16-24 year olds in the UK have experienced ‘unsafe homelessness’, sleeping in cars and sofa-surfing as a result of having nowhere to go.

“Access to homes for young people is getting harder in every direction: the cost of owning, demands on private renting. ̽��ֱ��RSRS restrictions are another barrier,” said Clarke.

While the majority of households prioritise their rent and have budgeted for the RSRS, and the report suggests landlords have been largely successful in transitioning tenants, the evidence shows that many of those affected are struggling.

̽��ֱ��research found that 76% of those still affected by the RSRS in 2014 reported cutting back on food, and 46% cutting back on energy use, in order to pay the shortfall. “That £60 a month I have to pay (RSRS) would cover food for two weeks or it would mean I could keep the house warm. It just feels like I’ve had two weeks of money taken off of me,” one affected tenant told researchers.

A quarter said they had to borrow money, mostly from friends and family, but at least 7% cited lenders such as payday loans. Around 40% of claimants reported currently being in arrears on their rent.

Some parents were forced to cut back on activities with their children, which they found upsetting. “I panic about struggling to pay for things… We don’t spend any money at Christmas,” said an affected claimant.

“ ̽��ֱ��RSRS affects a third of working-age tenants on housing benefit – a tenth of the whole social sector. This is a huge amount of people affected compared to other welfare reforms such as the benefit cap, which – thus far – has been tiny in comparison,” said Clarke.

Local authorities have a resource to help those most in need, often in the form of one-off payments known as Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP). ̽��ֱ��Government made substantial increases to funding allocation to local authorities for DHP, and the researchers found that this mitigated some of the initial hardship during implementation of the RSRS, with 23% of those still affected in 2014 having received some form of DHP.

However, the future allocation of DHP beyond April 2016 is uncertain as yet, and many local authorities were concerned that, with pressure on finances, it would be reduced.

In Scotland, it’s a very different picture. ̽��ֱ��Scottish Parliament is strongly opposed to the RSRS, but currently lacks the power to opt out, so has topped up DHP funding to completely ameliorate the effects of the policy – indicating clearly to landlords that all tenant shortfalls are to be subsidised using DHPs.

Consequently, to all intents and purposes, the RSRS is not practically in effect in Scotland, says Clarke, although Scottish landlords still have to ensure that all tenants have the correct DHP paperwork.

One of the Government aims was to incentivise people to work through the RSRS, but researchers found no evidence of this. While a tiny percent – three percent overall – had found work, an almost equal amount had lost it. “Many said they were actively seeking work in response to the RSRS, but they don’t seem to be finding it,” said Clarke.

̽��ֱ��researchers didn’t find much evidence of empty housing stock, as some had feared. While 42% of landlords reported difficulties in letting some properties because of the RSRS, Clarke says this would appear to translate to landlords looking harder for tenants – allocating larger properties to those in less urgent need of housing, or through websites and letting agents – as the overall proportion of vacant properties appears to have changed little.

Overall the research concludes that landlords have also been largely successful in transitioning people to the RSRS, the impact has been manageable and people prioritise their rent, says Clarke. But this comes at a cost to tenants.

“Landlords aren’t going bust. There aren’t great swathes of empty houses across England, or enormous rent arrears causing mass evictions. But that’s not the same as saying the impact for individual tenants is manageable, and the evidence is that many people are really struggling as a result of this policy,” said Clarke.

“Most people can’t downsize, or move away from families and schools, or suddenly find work after years of looking. So they just have to keep cutting back their spending. And people on benefits don’t have a lot of spare cash beyond paying for the essentials in life.”

Read the full report on the DWP's website here.

Research commissioned by government following housing benefit reforms finds increase in tenants self-selecting to downsize, but the areas hardest hit by reform are those least equipped with appropriate housing stock. Researchers found households increasingly cutting back on essentials such as food and heating to make up benefits shortfall.

Access to homes for young people is getting harder in every direction: the cost of owning, demands on private renting. ̽��ֱ��RSRS restrictions are another barrier

Anna Clarke

markus spiske

Newcastle - large housing estate

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Right to Buy could mean a loss of 75,000 low-cost homes and a higher Housing Benefit bill, according to new research

fpjl2 — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 11:45:22 +0000

̽��ֱ��new analysis, recently published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and conducted by researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (CCHPR) in the Department of Land Economy, is the first to look at the impact of building replacements homes as shared ownership.

̽��ֱ��report, Understanding the likely poverty impacts of the extension of Right to Buy to housing association tenants, estimates that there will be 75,000 fewer low-cost homes becoming available to let over the next 5 years if the homes built to replace those sold are available as shared ownership rather than as low-cost rentals.

Taking into account the incomes of social tenants, the affordability of homes and the take-up rate of Right to Buy (RTB) by council tenants, researchers predict that 128,000 Housing Association tenants are likely to buy their homes under RTB over the next 5 years – fewer than one in 10 of all tenants.

̽��ֱ��research shows that there are currently around 180,000 housing association tenants who could afford to exercise their RTB. Around half of these will be required to pay higher rents under the Governments new Pay to Stay scheme, and the higher rents they will face are likely to encourage them to buy their homes if possible.

̽��ֱ��policy will have a huge impact on people who need to access low cost rented homes in the future, say the JRF. Building replacement homes for sale as shared ownership will mean that people seeking a social rented home will be pushed into the bottom end of the private rented sector, where homes are typically more expensive, less secure and in worse condition than Housing Association homes. ̽��ֱ��report finds that over the next five years if replacement homes are built for sale:

62,000 tenants will have to find an average of £1,668 extra a year to pay private rent. Around a third of these households are paying their rent themselves from their generally low earnings.
̽��ֱ��other two thirds are in receipt of housing benefit, meaning that £31 million will be added onto the housing benefit bill as more people who claim housing benefit are pushed into the more expensive private rented sector or remain longer in homeless accommodation.
Just three percent of new social tenants could afford to buy the replacement properties if they were available as shared ownership.

In contrast, if the homes are built back at the same rent levels as those lost, there is only a temporary loss of lettings – caused by the delay whilst replacement housing is built. Under this scenario the estimated housing benefit costs of the policy fall to around £16 million and the increase numbers renting privately or in homeless accommodation is close to zero by the end of five years. ̽��ֱ��number of available lettings will increase after five years as new rented homes continue to be built.

̽��ֱ��replacement homes will be funded by the sale of high-value council homes, likely to be classified as homes that are valued in the top third regionally. Local Authorities have different proportions of high value housing stock, meaning that some face losing a large amount of their social housing, while others will be forced to sell very little, or own none to start with. ̽��ֱ��five worst affected areas are all in the London commuter belt, and face losing more than half of all their low-cost lettings.

“ ̽��ֱ��research has shown that the rent level of replacement stock is critical. Replacement homes for sale or shared ownership will not be affordable to those seeking social rented housing,” said Anna Clarke, Senior Research Associate at CCHPR.

“Replacement on a like-for-like basis could have a positive impact on the availability of social lettings, over the next five to ten years, though in the long term the subsidy for Right-to-Buy discounts cannot forever be found by selling off high value council stock without continually stretching the definition of high value,” she said.

Julia Unwin, Chief Executive of the JRF, said that this research shows how important it is to keep up the numbers of genuinely affordable rented homes.

“To make sure that this policy doesn’t drive up poverty in the long term, the Government must ensure that every low-rent home sold is replaced by another of the same tenure, same cost and same locality,” said Unwin.

Adapted from a Joseph Rowntree Foundation press release.

Replacing housing association homes sold under the new Right to Buy scheme with those for sale could drive up costs for low-income tenants and the taxpayer, according to a new report.

̽��ֱ��research has shown that the rent level of replacement stock is critical. Replacement homes for sale or shared ownership will not be affordable to those seeking social rented housing

Anna Clarke

Ben Salter

New houses pile up at Fontagarry

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A quarter of young people in the UK have experienced ‘unsafe’ homelessness, finds study

fpjl2 — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 12:34:48 +0000

New research shows that 26% of young people aged 16-24 have had to sleep in an “unsafe place” due to homelessness, such as in a car, a car park, a tent in a public space, or on the streets — amounting to an estimated 1.4 million young people (one in six) who have slept rough or unsafely in just the last year, with just under 300,000 doing so on any one night.

Around 83,000 homeless young people have been accommodated by local authorities or homeless services across the UK over the last year, according to a new study from the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (CCHPR). ̽��ֱ��charity Centrepoint, who commissioned the research, say that this figure is more than three times greater than the statutory homeless figures as compiled and recorded by the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Around 35,000 young people are in homeless accommodation at any one time across the UK, with hostels found to be almost always full or oversubscribed. Scotland assists the large majority of young people via homelessness legislation that requires local authorities to record all homeless people who approach them, even if they are not in a ‘priority need’ group.

Elsewhere in the UK, young people are more commonly assisted without a formal homelessness assessment. Official homelessness statistics outside Scotland only record the number of ‘priority need’ young people local authorities have a statutory duty to house, such as young parents or under-18s. Centrepoint say that thousands of young people who do not fit the narrow categories go unrecorded as a result, even if they have been rough sleeping.

̽��ֱ��research team analysed data collected from local authorities throughout the UK, and ComRes conducted a survey of over 2,000 young people that was then weighted to reflect the population at large.

“Our research drew on data from a range of data sources, and filled in the gaps by speaking to staff hostels and homeless services in a sample of 40 local authorities throughout the UK. This enabled us to gain a more comprehensive picture of the numbers who were using homeless services than is possible from the recorded data alone,” said Anna Clarke, a senior researcher at CCHPR in the ̽��ֱ��’s Department of Land Economy.

̽��ֱ��research also aimed to get insight into the ‘hidden homelessness’ of sofa surfing among young people: crashing on the sofas of friends or family when they have nowhere else to stay.

One in five have had to sofa surf during the last year, with 16% of all young people having done so for over a week, and 4% for over three months. In total, a third of young people said they had had to sofa surf at some point in their lives. ̽��ֱ��most common reasons given were: leaving a negative home environment or having parents unable or unwilling to house them. Relationship breakups and tenancy endings were also cited as common causes of sofa surfing.

Young people who had been evicted for rent arrears spent the longest time having to sofa surf — an average of ten weeks over the past year. Sofa surfing was more common for men, those without British citizenship, and young people who have been in care or had a foster worker as a child.

“Successive governments have been making policy in the dark as they have failed to grasp the sheer scale of youth homelessness in the UK,” said Balbir Chatrik, Centrepoint’s Director of Policy.

“Young people typically find themselves facing homelessness through no fault of their own. As a society we owe them a national safety net devised from more than just guess work,” she said.

̽��ֱ��team also looked at changing housing pressures for young people across the UK, analysing census data from 2001 and comparing it to 2011 to see changes in overcrowding in households. While overcrowding in both Scotland and Northern Ireland had dropped over that ten year period, in the rest of England and Wales overcrowding had gone up by around 3%, with the highest increase of 5.8% seen in London, indicating the growing pressure on housing in particular in London.

“This research found higher numbers of young people experiencing homelessness than we had ever expected, and we’d very much like to explore the issue further to see if these findings can be replicated,” said Clarke, who led the research.

“ ̽��ֱ��research has highlighted the risks of relying on administrative data and rough sleepers’ counts for quantifying something that by its nature does not necessarily bring people into contact with those who collect the data,” she said.

“As we await a new budget that’s likely to contain substantial cuts to welfare, I think the research also draws attention to just how precarious the housing situation of so many young people already is.”

Read the Executive Summary here.

Read the Full Report here.

Inset image: London Homeless by Jon (CC: Att-NC)

A new study finds the numbers of young people being accommodated by local authorities or homeless services across the UK to be over three times higher than those recorded by the Government, and highlights the ‘hidden homelessness’ of those forced to sleep on sofas of friends or relatives as they have nowhere else to stay.

As we await a new budget that’s likely to contain substantial cuts to welfare, I think the research also draws attention to just how precarious the housing situation of so many young people already is

Anna Clarke

Mjk23

Homeless man in tunnel

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Fraud claims and board games: What now for regulation and governance?

bjb42 — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 07:57:04 +0000

Sir Adrian Cadbury is one of a number of distinguished experts who will be speaking at the 4th Cambridge International Regulation and Governance Conference on 6 September. Booking details can be found at www.anglia.ac.uk/reggovconference

Under the banner, "More regulation, or better stewardship?" the conference will ask how far the global financial crisis has posed a challenge to existing systems of governance and regulation and where they should go from here.

Current reviews, both in the UK and Europe, have suggested that poor governance of major companies was one of the reasons behind the economic failure which began in 2008. Some reforms to the way in which these companies are controlled and regulated have already taken place, but as the Libor-fixing scandal suggests, big questions about governance remain.

̽��ֱ��aim of the conference, which is being jointly hosted by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin ̽��ֱ��, is to encourage the exchange of ideas about these issues between practitioners specialising in governance and regulation, policy-makers and academics.

"As we examine the mistakes of the past and look to the future we need to think carefully about how our companies and banks should be governed," Dr Paul Sanderson, a specialist in regulation at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and one of the conference organisers, said. "Essentially the question is do we want more rules, which could potentially stifle innovation and growth, or better stewarding of what are, after all, our assets?"

Sir Adrian Cadbury, who is also a ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge alumnus, will address the conference on the 20th anniversary of his landmark contribution to the field, the "Report of the Committee on the Financial Aspects of Corporate Governance." ̽��ֱ��publication of this report led to the first code of corporate governance being established as a requirement for a listing on the London Stock Exchange and ultimately to the current UK Corporate Governance Code and numerous such codes around the world.

These lay down basic principles on matters such as the separation of the roles of Chairmen and CEOs, the appointment of non-executive directors to boards, the responsibilities of board members and indeed shareholders, and how decisions should be made about senior executives' pay.

But, constructing a universal template - a set of rules that can be applied to all types and sizes of companies on all occasions - is almost impossible. Cadbury cleverly incorporated into the code the comply-or-explain principle to deal with this. It allows companies to explain to their stakeholders when they have not fully conformed to the rules. It is then a matter primarily for shareholders to consider whether such action is justified and react accordingly.

Some explanations may be considered unacceptable, where a powerful figure fails to convince shareholders of the need to combine the roles of Chairman and CEO. In other cases non-compliance may be unavoidable, such as the inability of a director to attend the requisite number of board or committee meetings through illness, or even death.

In addition, while in theory the rules reflect best practice, best practice is also something which evolves. So non-compliance by a company may simply mean, in some cases, that the company has followed best practice and the code itself needs revising.

̽��ֱ��difficulties in determining the extent to which rules should be operated flexibly in codes of corporate governance is mirrored in the regulation of many other sectors, such as financial services, health and safety, hospitals, railways and so on. Failure inevitably and rightly leads to calls for better regulation, which often means that the rules become less flexible and enforcement measures become stronger.

Yet this action, while it may prevent some future failures, may also prevent innovation - the development of new products and services that would benefit us all. Getting the balance right is difficult - but clearly something has gone wrong, or we would not be suffering an economic downturn, with banks needing bailouts and GDP in many countries more or less stagnant.

This suggests that, as the Leveson Inquiry in the UK has hinted, we need to examine the culture of organisations. Most public companies are, as the name suggests, owned by the public one way or another, through pensions, insurance or savings plans. It is possible that greater emphasis is needed on protecting our assets, by implementing measures which ensure companies in whom we and large institutional shareholders invest adopt the practices and ethos of the very best.

These complex issues will be the subject of more than 40 papers which will be presented by experts from around the world at the conference on 6 September.

̽��ֱ��10 plenary and parallel sessions focus on topics such as corporate governance, regulation and ownership, board composition, executive pay and regulating the financial sector. In addition, the directors of two companies founded more than 400 years ago will speak on how to manage companies in the long run. To set the scene, Philip Augar, author of “ ̽��ֱ��Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism” will speak at the pre-conference dinner at Queens College, on 5 September.

Further information about the conference can be found here

̽��ֱ��author of the report which laid the basis for British and international corporate governance codes will be the guest speaker at a conference which asks what the future of such measures should be.

As we examine the mistakes of the past and look to the future we need to think carefully about how our companies and banks should be governed.

Paul Sanderson

SEIU.

Banking Protest.

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Benefit changes raise pressure on country life

bjb42 — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:49:19 +0000

̽��ֱ��study, published by the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), says that people in rural districts who rent their homes from the local authority or housing associations may be forced away by a number of changes to the way in which benefit is allocated.

In particular, it says that the 2012 Welfare Reform Act, which comes into force next year, has exposed a shortage of smaller properties in rural areas while at the same time cutting benefits from working age social tenants if they are unable to move to smaller homes.

It warns that vulnerable and younger people may be forced to move away from these settlements, even though the provision of affordable rural housing is critical to ensure that young people growing up in rural areas are able to remain in their communities.

̽��ֱ��report, Rural Housing at a time of economic change, was produced by the Centre for Housing and Planning Research at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge on behalf of the CRC. It is being made available for free download at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-for-rural-communities

Anna Clarke, the lead researcher, said: “ ̽��ֱ��changing benefit criteria are likely to lead to increased demand for smaller social rented properties in rural areas. We also found problems with housing quality and fuel poverty in rural areas, and concern over the affordability of the new ‘Affordable Rent’ product, which is largely replacing the construction of new social housing.”

CRC Commissioner, Professor Mark Shucksmith, said: “Changes to benefit eligibility sometimes have unintended consequences. ̽��ֱ��Commission is concerned that these changes will affect vulnerable people in rural areas in ways that have not been anticipated and will lead younger people to move out of small rural settlements.”

“Other people, too, may lose benefit unless they move to smaller homes – perhaps away from their friends and communities. There is a real danger that such places will be less sustainable and less able to support jobs and services.”

One of the main findings in the report concerns the stipulation within the 2012 Welfare Reform Act that, from April 2013, social housing tenants of working age will only be able to claim housing benefit for the size of property they are deemed to need. Those considered to be “under-occupying” their home will be subject to a reduction of 14% of their benefit if they have one spare room, and 25% if they have two or more, forcing them to search for smaller accommodation.

But the researchers found that in rural areas, not enough smaller accommodation exists. This may force people to choose between losing benefit, or moving away from their friends and communities, often to urban areas where such properties are more common.

In addition, a higher proportion of households underoccupy in rural districts, partly because social landlords often house small or young families in larger accommodation, so that if their family grows they do not have to move on.

Now it seems that many may have to do so anyway. ̽��ֱ��report points out that there is an “acute shortage” of one-bedroomed properties nationally, but that it is worst rural areas, which typically have fewer flats. ̽��ֱ��scarcity of such property means that many social tenants could be uprooted.

̽��ֱ��study also found that homes in rural areas are substantially more likely to fail to meet the decent home standard, especially in the private rented sector. They also have much higher rates of thermal inefficiency, with 56% of private rented homes in hamlets or isolated dwellings falling into the lowest category under the Standard Assessment Procedure – the Government measure used to assess the energy ratings of dwellings. “With rising fuel prices and falling incomes and benefit levels, this raises real concerns over fuel poverty,” the report adds.

Rural housing is already under considerable strain. According to recent estimates by the CRC, the population of rural areas is growing faster than urban. ̽��ֱ��ONS predicts that the rural population will increase by 16% by 2028, compared with a 9% increase in urban areas.

At the same time, affordable housing in rural districts is hard to come by. Rural England has, over the last 30 years, seen the steepest decline in the stock of social rented homes. In 1980, 25% of the housing stock in rural areas was social housing compared with 36% in urban areas. By 2007, those figures had decline to 13% and 21% respectively. ̽��ֱ��gap between average rural house prices and cheaper, urban homes is also widening.

̽��ֱ��findings of the report will be circulated to key Government agencies including the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Full details can be downloaded from the CRC website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-for-rural-communities

Significant numbers of social tenants in rural areas may have to move away from their friends and communities because of changes to housing benefit criteria, a report reveals today.

There is a real danger that rural communities will be less sustainable and less able to support jobs and services.

Mark Shucksmith, Commission for Rural Communities

Image Worldislandinfo.com from Flickr.

Chipping Camden, Gloucestershire. A new report argues that changes to the ways in which housing benefits are administered are likely to force large numbers of people who rent from the council or housing associations in rural areas out of their communities

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