---

Welfare Reform Bill

My Lords, as my noble friend Lord Wigley suggested, I will leave the arguments about disabled people until our debate on the next group of amendments, and talk first about people who are not able to move because of a lack of supply. The Riverside housing association says that for those who stay put, the loss of benefit, "““will have a very significant impact on household income at a time when tenants face huge pressures from rising fuel and food prices””." Social landlords house, "““some of the poorest households in the country … Such losses would enforce difficult choices between subsistence items such as eating well, clothing the children and, of course, paying the rent””." Riverside points out that two-thirds of its tenants have, "““a net household income … of less than £10,200 per annum””." This will cause devastating hardship.