Helping to keep our members up-to-date with the latest information on housing legislation, policy and practice is an important part of the work of Housing Rights and a key function of the Policy and Practice Team. One way in which we do this is through the Housing Advice Practitioners’ Forum.
From 30th January 2017, the amount of time for which a claimant will be able to receive Housing Benefit whilst temporarily absent from Northern Ireland will be reduced, in most cases, to a maximum of 4 weeks. The change applies to both working age claimants and state pension credit age claimants.
Housing Rights believes that everyone should have the right to live in a home which is safe and secure. Unfortunately, Northern Ireland, like the rest of the UK, experiences regular incidents of hate crime.
Housing Rights has just produced a new Professional Resource on Welfare Reform and Housing. This timely publication should prove to be essential reading for anyone giving advice to clients on the impact of the welfare reform measures.
To ask the Minister for Communities for an update on the implementation of the bedroom tax. Mr Paul Girvan, DUP AQO 45/16-21
I would like to thank the member for his question and in my answer I would also like to address the question from Mr Girvan (AQO (15) 45/16-21), which also relates to Social Sector Size Criteria.
Last year, advisers at Housing Rights dealt with almost 3,000 issues relating to housing conditions. Of those people contacting us for assistance on dealing with poor housing:
Helping to keep 
