Shelter Scotland have renewed calls for more affordable housing in response to yesterdays UK Budget announcements on housing benefit and Support for Mortgage Interest.

Gordon MacRae, head of Communications and Policy at the housing and homelessness charity, said: “Shelter Scotland has been calling for housing benefit reform for some years. This debate needs to be about giving people a hand up when they are struggling. It should not be about the small number of extreme examples where large families end up in expensive private accommodation because there is not enough social housing to meet their needs.

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“Seven out of eight people receiving housing benefit have a job. This shows that housing in the UK whether in the private or social sector is still too expensive for many hardworking families.

“This is at a time when nearly half of LHA claimants are already making up a shortfall of almost £100 a month to meet their rent. By ripping out this support from under their feet it will push many households over the edge, triggering a spiral of debt, eviction and homelessness.

“If we are to reduce the housing benefit bill in the long term we must continue to build more affordable housing.”

(GK)