In a period of austerity every penny of public money that is spent must be scrutinised. The government was absolutely right to reform the housing benefit system ('I cried when I heard about the changes. What will I do?', 6 October).
The intention is not to force claimants from city centres but to support the reduction of the housing benefit bill and restrain a system which was distorting private sector rents. However, we do understand that some people have concerns about what this will mean for them, although some will have to adjust their sights according to the new rates.
We will provide whatever support is possible to mitigate against anyone having to move out of Westminster and tenants should contact the council for advice. Those who have a genuine need to be housed in their local area – those on low incomes or who have disabilities, pensioners who have lived in their neighbourhood all their lives and pupils sitting exams – should be prioritised. The new benefit levels will not take hold until next April and councils have time to get to grips with the changes they may bring. Once the lower rate is in place, we believe rents will fall, as landlords will not be able to charge such high sums.
Cabinet member for housing, Westminster council
It is 25 years since Westminster council started using the London mobility scheme to forcibly relocate families. When homeless families asked for help, they were told they would have one offer from another borough. It could be on the other side of London, miles from friends and family. If they turned the offer down they were regarded as making themselves intentionally homeless. By adopting this approach Westminster transferred the costs of the services those people needed to other councils.
The coalition is now introducing a policy of social cleansing – a variation on the "homes for votes" strategy. The message to anyone on a low income living in the private rented sector is clear – you are "too poor to live here". People living in outer London will find a huge additional demand on their already stretched housing, schools and health services as people are forcibly relocated. As pressure on housing rises, so will demand in private rented sector, creating the climate for landlords to raise rents and drive up the housing benefit bill there. Controlling private rents is the key to controlling housing benefit expenditure – not forcible relocation.
Pete Challis
London
How depressing to hear Conservative councillors justifying the cap on housing benefits by bemoaning the fact that some people entitled to benefits are able to rent properties which would otherwise be way beyond their pocket. They choose to ignore the possibility that such people may have strong family and social roots in, say, London and to price them out of that place could cause significant difficulties with childcare, the cost of travelling to work and could disrupt children's schooling. The ghastly extension of this idea is the creation of social enclaves determined by wealth.
Jo Reeves
Battle, East Sussex
Sadly the cap on housing benefit will hasten the now well-established flow of poor and often ethnic minority residents away from an increasingly gentrified inner London to the fringes where work is even harder to come by. The Tories justification for the likely displacement of a quarter of a million residents is that if working people cannot afford to live in central London it is simply unfair that the unemployed remain. London's reputation as a cosmopolitan "world city" is diminished by these plans.
Gareth Millington
London
It surely wouldn't have been hard to find a case to illustrate the story somewhat more sympathetically than someone who costs the state almost £17,500 a year in rent alone, and is distressed at the prospect of leaving one of the more desirable postcodes? Had the Mail wanted to illustrate a "why our benefits system must change" story they could have hardly picked a better candidate.
Russell Clements
London