Housing benefit - don't let the facts get in the way!

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An awful lot has been written about Housing Benefit since the government decided to cap it. So much, and yet so little light cast. Please, can we remember the basic facts - HB recipients DONT GET ANY MONEY. Landlords get the money! Fact: the reason HB has doubled in the last decade is because RENTS HAVE DOUBLED. Ergo, the problem is not the claimants, it is the lack of affordable housing. Buy to let landlords have been partying and they are still going to party once these cuts are in place because they don't solve the problem. Its like dealing with headaches through decapitation. If the headache is caused by someone punching you, would it not be better to stop the person doing the punching? I suggested to a friend yesterday that the answer - well, part of it - could be RENT CONTROL. Mrs Thatcher abolished rent boards in 1980, which used to regulate the private rented sector. Bring them back, I said. He said that would not be acceptable in the 21st century. My lord, perhaps he is right. It is acceptable that landlords get billions from the taxpayer to keep them in the money, but not to control rent. We could try LAND VALUE TAX, which is an effective way to stop owners of property from accumulating too much wealth at the expense of millions of working people. May be then wealth owners would do something more useful with their money - like invest in businesses and jobs. In Germany where they have an LVT the cost of renting is NINE TIMES CHEAPER per square foot. Just imagine that! May be we could take the money from LVT and apply it to building new homes and subsidising social housing. Landlordism is an age old vice. I know - I was a landlord once too. It's easy money. Why in an age of austerity can't we do something other than punish tenants. Because in England we live in a feudal aristocracy and no one will stand up to the landlords.