According to Shelter, a homelessness charity, there are 271,000 people recorded as homeless in England of which 123,000 children. To navigate this month’s Debt Talk podcast with Ripon Ray on: ‘ Debt, housing costs and homelessness ', expert panellists who specialise in the benefits system, policy and debt. Deven Ghelani, Founder and Director of Policy in Practice, spoke about the true meaning of homelessness in the UK, and how the current benefit system that was initially ‘designed ‘to simplify things, as it stands, appears not fit for purpose because the current system does not pay sufficient financial assistance to support vulnerable communities who are homeless or vulnerable to homelessness. Although he was involved in designing universal credit during its initial policy development, there are wider issues that require discussion, such as the number of homes available and the cost of renting and owning a home. Amy Taylor, Debt Adviser and Chair of the Greater Manchester Mon...

'Is there a link between shortage of housing, homelessness and   the welfare reform in the UK?', asks Ripon Ray 'Is there a link between shortage of housing, homelessness and the welfare reform in the UK?', asks Ripon Ray. 'I made a claim for universal credit over 5 months ago. Nothing has come through yet. My landlord has just sent me a letter. I am in rent arrears.  Am I going to be homeless again?’ Joanna Smith is nine months pregnant. She is living in temporary accommodation in Hackney, London, having been placed there by Westminster Council.   Housing benefit is not going to cover her rent in Westminster.  Her situation made me think about the state of the housing crisis, the underlying causes of such a crisis and its link with welfare reform. In 1976 there were over 5 million local authority tenancies on social rent. Social renters on overage pay 50% of the market rate. In 2017 the number of cou...

'Despite being an essential life skill, Money Management is always a difficult sell to our homeless clients, as it's a rather dry topic. Ripon, however, makes it accessible and even entertaining. He is a rare hybrid of engaging and accomplished trainer  AND  subject matter expert on all things money – just what we needed! ,  Cordelia Wise,  Manager of  Enterprise and Employment, St  Martin-In-the-Field,   homelessness charity (London )

‘I am thinking of getting my pension funds released to pay for my rent arrears - do you think my landlord will stop possession proceedings if I pay it all off once I get the funds?’ This is what one of my clients said to me when he first came to seek advice for his rent arrears. It was in September 2016. He was 56 years old but would not be eligible for the state pension for another decade. What struck me about him was his proposal to unlock his pension funds to pay for his rent arrears. It made me think about men in his age group, how they lived and how severe their financial and other problems can be and the challenges they face trying to rectify it. These are problems that, as things stand, will persist until their retirement age. As I dug deeper into this gentleman’s personal circumstances, I discovered how he had fallen into poverty. His life was thrown into chaos once he was faced with early retirement. He previously worked for a local council and his role wa...