Quote: BiffasBoys "You yourself have used an example of a family whose kids have grown up & left.'"
Not me.
Quote: BiffasBoys "All the apparent cases of people having to pay more as a result of a reduction in benefits, owing to excess capacity, aren't claims made by me.'"
What's your point here and why is it relevant?
Quote: BiffasBoys "If demand increases beyond the current spare capacity, rents will rise purely due to supply and demand.'"
Quote: BiffasBoys "Big ifs. What is the capacity? Why should those who are in social housing & not in receipt of housing benefit not be moved into the private sector? or charged more so that taxpayer subsidy is removed?'"
Not a big "If" at all.
Nowadays, the greatest problem with housing is that supply is falling short of demand, leading to higher purchase prices and higher rents ... social housing eases this, but only to the extent to which it is allowed.
Also, since Thatcher swept away many tenancy rights in the private sector, social housing is more secure.
And now you want to boot out those who pay their rent themselves.
Quote: BiffasBoys "Are you saying there is sufficient spare capacity lying empty to be able to cope?'"
Quote: BiffasBoys "There are thousands of empty properties all over the country, hundreds of stalled housing developments'"
And how do you propose to rent them out?
If the owners of the empty private ones wanted to rent them out, wouldn't most of them be rented-out already?
Quote: BiffasBoys "You say the cost is less ... how much less?'"
Quote: BiffasBoys "Build cost is funded by private capital, as are the ongoing costs. Not by taxpayers. Housing benefit is taxpayer funded. You say the cost is more. How much more?'"
It's the DWP who says it costs more in benefits when the recipients are in the private sector, see earlier post and link.
Adding profit onto the costs must increase the rent, it's very simple.