Centrepoint remains vigilant despite no mention of housing benefit cuts in chancellor's statement
5 Dec 2012
Plans to cut housing benefit for the under 25s are likely to have been scrapped after Chancellor George Osborne failed to mention it in today’s autumn statement
However, Centrepoint is remaining vigilant and will continue to campaign against cuts that could lead to an increase in youth homelessness.
Centrepoint launched its ‘no to housing benefit cuts’ petition in June with the message ’80,000 young people can’t go home’. We knew cutting benefits for under 25s would be a bad move for the 80,000 young people that find themselves homeless every year, including the young people Centrepoint supports.
More than 4,000 of you signed this petition – thank you. But let’s not jump for joy just yet.
We told MPs that the proposal would leave many young people without a home and would seriously impact on their ability to keep or find a job. It seems like they listened, but the cut to housing benefits could return, as well as other policies that could see youth homelessness rise even more.
Continued campaign
We will continue to campaign against any policies that fail to address the issue of youth homelessness and youth unemployment.
Centrepoint’s Chief Executive Seyi Obakin said that today’s statement did little to support homeless young people and the affordable housing crisis.
He said: ‘The statement does set out money for some new housing, but our fear is that the vast majority of new homes will be out of reach of young people leaving our services.
‘The further cuts to working age benefits, including new measures to increase housing benefit at less than inflation and local market rents, are bad news for those young people who are desperately trying to find somewhere to live.’
If you want to continue supporting us in our campaign, you can still sign our petition at www.centrepoint.org.uk/cuts