Cameron considers scrapping housing benefits for under-25s
PRIME Minister David Cameron will today give more details on his idea to take away housing benefits from almost 400,000 low-paid and unemployed under 25 year olds – but union bosses claimed the move could spark riots.
The Conservative leader will try to start a debate on Britain’s welfare bill by setting out plans to save almost £2bn through restricting access to housing benefits, forcing young people who cannot afford commercial rents to move back in with their parents.
Cameron also suggested in an interview with the Mail on Sunday that the government could stop dole payments for jobseekers that do not look hard enough for work, and require the long-term unemployed to take part in community work, in order to prevent people from becoming “trapped in the welfare system”.
His speech comes as an Ipsos Mori poll for London Councils suggests that half of all private renters in the city believe they have been permanently priced out of buying a home.
Housing charity Shelter yesterday already voiced concerns that young people do not always have the option to move back in with relatives.
And trade union the RMT yesterday said such plans “are creating the perfect conditions for more riots on our streets”.
“Not only have they dumped more than a million young people on the jobs scrap heap but they now want to force them to live on the streets as well,” said general secretary Bob Crow.