Diane says housing benefit cap will hit Orthodox Jewish community hard

06 Oct 2010

Diane has raised the alarm over the effect she believes the Lib Con announcement of a cap on benefits will have on her constituents.

The decision to cap housing benefit will have a devastating impact on many renters in Hackney, but Diane believes the impact will be particularly hard on the large Haredi Jew population in her constituency, who rely on renting large private sector homes.

Diane said:

The cap on housing benefit will have a huge effect on many residents in Hackney, but it will hit the large number of Orthodox Jewish families living in my constituency, particularly hard. Families in the Orthodox Jewish community typically have more than four children, and many of them live in the private rented sector, so the limit on benefit will have a devastating impact.

They will see a serious shortfall between the benefits they receive and the rent they have to pay, which may see many Haredi families forced out of their community and into cheaper accommodation further out of London. They will be forced to move away from the synagogues and schools that the community has built here in Hackney.

This will be a sad loss to the borough, which has the largest Haredi community in Europe.

This Lib Con cap to housing benefit shows a distinct lack of care or concern for people living in inner London, who will be forced to find cheaper, more cramped and unsuitable accommodation, or move away from the areas, in which they have lived in all their lives altogether.

These cuts are unfair, unnecessary and ill-thought out.”



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