This Thursday, Brighton and Hove City Council will consider a proposal from the Green group of Councillors condemning the Government’s removal of entitlement to housing benefit for 18-21 year olds. We are doing this for many reasons, but my letter seeks to identify the disproportionate impacts this
This Thursday, Brighton and Hove City Council will consider a proposal from the Green group of Councillors condemning the Government’s removal of entitlement to housing benefit for 18-21 year olds. We are doing this for many reasons, but my letter seeks to identify the disproportionate impacts this proposal will have on the young people who self-define as LGBT+.
The proposals as they stand could have deep and disturbing consequences for our LGBT+ young people. Importantly and as many readers will recognise, not all young people have the option to stay at home. Many young people find that when they ‘come out’ they are rejected from family homes, often have to flee abusive households and face the real fear of community retribution.
According to the Albert Kennedy Trust, of the whole quarter of our homeless young people who are LGBT+, 69% have been actively forced out of home and have experienced aggression and physical violence.
The Conservative Government’s austerity programme has led to a 20% increase in young LGBT+ people seeking the Albert Kennedy Trust’s help with homelessness. With money tighter at home, homophobic parents have been empowered and found it easier to kick dependent children out- with Stonewall saying: “We have seen in difficult economic times that families that weren’t that tolerant anyway, under increasing financial pressure, excluding more.” This benefit change is an ideological kick in the teeth to young LGBT+ people who are to be penalised also now on the grounds of their age, sexuality and gender identity.
I welcome news that in some cases, such as where there has been domestic abuse or harm, this rule will not apply. But I remain concerned that the new rules fail to take into account the exact nature of why people are not able to live at home. Among many others, factors such as fear of retribution that lead to young LGBT+ people leaving home can be far less obvious.
The purpose of the change has been described by the former Chancellor George Osborne as “stopping young people slipping into life on benefits” however at that age, not all young people can afford university; not all will have access to the right employment, training and skills for a job.
The reason many young people need to move out of home or require housing benefit is not because they are ‘not in work.’ In fact figures from homeless charity Crisis show that the 11,000 young people in the country who do claim housing benefit at this age represent just 0.4% of the total annual spend on housing benefit.
I would argue that most – if not the vast majority – of young people do not make a conscious ‘decision’ to live on benefits. Even the figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that almost £10bn in benefits in 2015 went entirely unclaimed. Add to this the fact that housing benefit has already been frozen and welfare rates reduced, the truth is that any young person on benefits has a measly living. As many of us will remember, young LGBT+ population have no choice where they grow up. They often flee home for their own safety, not because they are seeking housing benefit.
So what is the future for young LGBT+ people? Less young people will come out fearing that they might end up on the streets, with no other safety net.
Are our young LGBT+ people being told that they must rough sleep? A damning indictment when all of the evidence tells us depression is already too prevalent for LGBT+ young people.
Our young people have a right to live freely, away from the emotional or physical abuse that surrounds their decision to come out. Any decent society should be helping young LGBT+ people start their adult lives in a positive fashion, not be damned by Tory ideology that implies the poorest people relish in living off state benefits and have plenty of other options.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty
Convenor of the Green Group of Councillors, Brighton and Hove City Council and Green Group Spokesperson on the Policy and Resources Committee and Planning Committee
