In November, George Osborne announced that a decision had been taken to cap housing benefit which, if applied to vulnerable people like the elderly, homeless veterans and victims of domestic violence, would have a devastating effect on their housing.

According to the National Housing Federation, this change would hit vulnerable people by an average of £68 a week and at least 82,000 homes for these groups would be forced to close.

Fairoak Housing Association provides supported housing for more than 100 adults with learning disabilities across Cumbria and the North East of England. In the next year, we had planned to develop a much-needed supported housing scheme for adults with autism in Kendal but this scheme would no longer be viable if we are forced to cap rents.

We would urge Government to confirm that supported housing will be exempt from these proposals so that this and other schemes can be saved.

Lisa Chant

Fairoak Housing Association