Over 1,740 young people in Greater Manchester may be forced onto the streets as Tory housing benefit cuts hit home, warns Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham, Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester

Over 1,700 young people in Greater Manchester are at risk of being forced onto the streets and made homeless as Tory cuts to housing benefit come into effect, Andy Burnham, Labour’s candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester, has warned.

Welfare reforms brought in by the Tories mean that people aged 18 – 21 will no longer be entitled to housing benefit.

Mr Burnham said: "Once again, the Tory Party has chosen to make young people their first target for cuts. Their policies have already resulted in a record number of homeless people on the streets of Greater Manchester and these figures show that this latest cruel cut will only make matters even worse.

"If elected in May, I will immediately launch a new drive to tackle rough sleeping in GM. I will work with our councils to free care leavers from council tax and create a new Mayor's Homelessness Fund with the aim of putting a roof over every head in Greater Manchester."

Rochdale Borough Council recently agreed to make young people leaving care exempt from paying council tax until they are 21. Mr Burnham says if elected he will work with the other nine councils in the city region to see if this policy can be applied across Greater Manchester.

Figures obtained by mr Burnham from the Department for Work and Pensions show there are around 3,420 housing benefit claimants aged between 18 and 21 in Greater Manchester. Claimants with dependent children will be exempt from the changes which leaves around 1,742 young people who will lose the benefit.

Organisations including the charities Shelter, Crisis and Centrepoint have been lobbying hard against the changes. Centrepoint says it could force thousands of young people onto the streets and Crisis say the policy is ‘destructive’ and runs counter to ministers’ claims to want to reduce homelessness.

Ministers have said there will be exemptions for young people in certain circumstances for example those with dependent children but the National Landlords Association says:
“Never mind the nuances, all landlords will hear is that 18-21 year olds are no longer entitled to housing benefit – they just won’t consider them as tenants.”