57 Oldham homes owned by social housing providers receive over £741,000 a year in housing benefit yet Labour’s Jim McMahon highlights the cost of private landlords

Posted By: Chronic-Oldham June 26, 2017

There are 2.3 times more housing benefit recipients in Oldham social housing than in private rented homes and the amounts claimed by social housing tenants are higher than those in private rented homes. Despite this Labour Oldham MP Jim McMahon took to Twitter to state “Allow our councils to build to solve the housing crisis. £Billions spent on housing benefit to private landlords”  As Jim knows this is not the case in Oldham where just 57 social rented homes receive over £250 a week in housing benefit that is £741,000 a year, no private rented homes receive housing benefit at either of the top two highest payment rates.

 

Oldham housing benefit by landlord type social or private rented

  1. Jim’s not actually concerned about the the amount of housing benefit claimed only the percentage that ends up with private landlords. Coop Socialists like social housing because not for profit (but definitely for huge salaries) housing associations will use some of the excess to deliver schemes in partnership with councils that often win social awards and garner press coverage but which change little in the scheme of things. Income from housing benefit should not be used by housing providers to teach esol courses, create vegetable gardens, fund Labour party schemes or take people for barbecues at ruined collieries. Labour Oldham continue in 2017 to saddle the borough with ever increasing amounts of high interest pfi debt to fund new social housing. The latest schemes are another phase to be built at Primrose Bank one of Oldham’s primary areas of high immigration with high rates of benefit claimants and Prince’s Gate in St Mary’s which already has by far the highest number of housing benefit claimants in Oldham. The only growth industry in Oldham is deprivation management. This deprivation is fed by an endless barrage of socialist rhetoric, an endemic Oldham perception of entitlement to unlimited benefits and record levels of unskilled immigration that fills a nonexistent worker shortage.