Karen Buck
@queensparkkaren.bsky.social
Chair, Generation Rent. Old Oak Common DC, Paddington and South Kilburn. Former MP for Westminster North. Labour. Housing, Sondheim, Springsteen and other passions. Views personal.
Hard to overstate how stupid this is. But it is true. One young person I’ve been working with was refused a tenancy on the grounds they can’t afford the rent living alone (even though their rehousing would help free up a large, under-occupied flat which will therefore…stay under-occupied 🤦)
People on lowest incomes being denied access to social housing, research finds
Benefit claimants having applications denied for being deemed too risky by housing associations, says Crisis
www.theguardian.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Hard to overstate how stupid this is. But it is true. One young person I’ve been working with was refused a tenancy on the grounds they can’t afford the rent living alone (even though their rehousing would help free up a large, under-occupied flat which will therefore…stay under-occupied 🤦)
This is excellent news. A conscious choice to prioritise social housing in the face of housing need.
Westminster Labour Delivers: Now the 5ᵗʰ Biggest Council House-Builder in the Country - Westminster Labour Councillors - Westminster Labour
Westminster Labour is proud to announce that Westminster City Council has been recognised by Inside Housing as the 5ᵗʰ biggest council house-builder in the country. This follows our strong performance...
www.westminsterlabour.org.uk
December 8, 2025 at 1:05 PM
This is excellent news. A conscious choice to prioritise social housing in the face of housing need.
Reposted by Karen Buck
In the mid-1980s, Tory-run Westminster Council became one of the most corrupt local authorities in British history. It is a story with many dimensions. This is about one of them: www.onlondon.co.uk/true-london-... #london #truelondon
Podcast: 40 years of Walterton & Elgin Community Homes
Marking a big anniversary of a remarkable north Westminster campaign against corrupt Conservatism
www.onlondon.co.uk
December 7, 2025 at 11:37 AM
In the mid-1980s, Tory-run Westminster Council became one of the most corrupt local authorities in British history. It is a story with many dimensions. This is about one of them: www.onlondon.co.uk/true-london-... #london #truelondon
Reposted by Karen Buck
Happy 76th Birthday, Tom Waits!
December 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Happy 76th Birthday, Tom Waits!
The sky is darkening like a stain. Something is going to fall like rain. And it won’t be flowers.
Auden ‘The two’
* I have been known to have fun at parties
Auden ‘The two’
* I have been known to have fun at parties
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 5:56 PM
The sky is darkening like a stain. Something is going to fall like rain. And it won’t be flowers.
Auden ‘The two’
* I have been known to have fun at parties
Auden ‘The two’
* I have been known to have fun at parties
Reposted by Karen Buck
'The whole system is near-criminal in its ability to harvest public money so that exploitative providers can provide inadequate housing and support to vulnerable people'
Observer story on supported exempt accommodation in Birmingham
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Observer story on supported exempt accommodation in Birmingham
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
‘Even Dickens would be lost for words’: inside the supported housing scandal | The Observer
observer.co.uk
December 6, 2025 at 9:45 AM
'The whole system is near-criminal in its ability to harvest public money so that exploitative providers can provide inadequate housing and support to vulnerable people'
Observer story on supported exempt accommodation in Birmingham
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Observer story on supported exempt accommodation in Birmingham
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
In the 80s/90s families spent years sharing one room in a B&B-I’ve stark memories of Bayswater homelessness hotels. Now children can spend their entire young lives in Temporary Accommodation.
It’s good that the government recommits to a 6-week max in B&B. Next: LHA unfrozen and social homes built
It’s good that the government recommits to a 6-week max in B&B. Next: LHA unfrozen and social homes built
"No child should be growing up in a B&B or mouldy bedsit".
To make that real, we need to get children out of temporary accommodation and into permanent homes with benefits unfrozen and social rent homes built. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
To make that real, we need to get children out of temporary accommodation and into permanent homes with benefits unfrozen and social rent homes built. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Government pledges to end children living in B&Bs
The strategy also includes making childcare more accessible for families on Universal Credit.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 2:02 PM
In the 80s/90s families spent years sharing one room in a B&B-I’ve stark memories of Bayswater homelessness hotels. Now children can spend their entire young lives in Temporary Accommodation.
It’s good that the government recommits to a 6-week max in B&B. Next: LHA unfrozen and social homes built
It’s good that the government recommits to a 6-week max in B&B. Next: LHA unfrozen and social homes built
Reposted by Karen Buck
Thanks to everyone who helped with this, all over the country. A team effort for our children.
Now to get it all done.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6931e2...
Now to get it all done.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6931e2...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
December 5, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Thanks to everyone who helped with this, all over the country. A team effort for our children.
Now to get it all done.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6931e2...
Now to get it all done.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6931e2...
Reposted by Karen Buck
Our Deputy Chief Executive, @danwilsoncraw.bsky.social, spoke to The Times about “unethical” ways letting agents are trying to avoid the new rules in the Renters’ Rights Act.
Read more👇
www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...
Read more👇
www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...
Should I sign a statement of intent to secure a rental property?
Our columnist advises a prospective tenant who has been asked to promise they will stay put for at least six months
www.thetimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Our Deputy Chief Executive, @danwilsoncraw.bsky.social, spoke to The Times about “unethical” ways letting agents are trying to avoid the new rules in the Renters’ Rights Act.
Read more👇
www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...
Read more👇
www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...
Reposted by Karen Buck
This is vile and so so wrong. GB News is the TV version of X.
Extreme racism like this should not be platformed as ‘news.’
It is absolutely disgusting and another attempt to drag ‘debate’ to the right and destabilise our democracy.
Extreme racism like this should not be platformed as ‘news.’
It is absolutely disgusting and another attempt to drag ‘debate’ to the right and destabilise our democracy.
GB News now broadcasting calls to remove the ethnic minority MPs from parliament
December 3, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This is vile and so so wrong. GB News is the TV version of X.
Extreme racism like this should not be platformed as ‘news.’
It is absolutely disgusting and another attempt to drag ‘debate’ to the right and destabilise our democracy.
Extreme racism like this should not be platformed as ‘news.’
It is absolutely disgusting and another attempt to drag ‘debate’ to the right and destabilise our democracy.
Reposted by Karen Buck
This is a borderline psychotic thing to put in a newspaper.
This is the point where the anti-Reeves stories tip into madness. Criticise her performance all you like but what the hell is this?
December 2, 2025 at 10:01 PM
This is a borderline psychotic thing to put in a newspaper.
Reposted by Karen Buck
This is a great and welcome post. Bookmark!
Don't Panic: Britain is not broken. The UK can do better, but we shouldn't be too gloomy about things. If you look at the stats, there's a lot to be happy with (including how happy we are): adamcorlett.com/2025/11/30/d...
Don’t Panic: Britain is not broken – adamcorlett.com
adamcorlett.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:00 AM
This is a great and welcome post. Bookmark!
The discussion on this point on the Today programme just now did not make for a calm start to the day.
Lies, damned lies and the Telegraph. They posted CSJ figures using an outrageously false comparison of 2 cases. It claimed a benefits family were better off by £18k than a working household when the real figure was £16k worse off. The details benefitsinthefuture.com #benefits #budget
Benefits in the Future – Welfare reform commentary and analysis
Welfare reform commentary and analysis
benefitsinthefuture.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The discussion on this point on the Today programme just now did not make for a calm start to the day.
Love this image so much, probably because it invokes an almost painful nostalgia for a world I never knew. Yet 2025 me is choked with anxiety about the health and safety violations.
Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 1
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin
December 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Love this image so much, probably because it invokes an almost painful nostalgia for a world I never knew. Yet 2025 me is choked with anxiety about the health and safety violations.
Reposted by Karen Buck
This story is starting to make me feel I’m going slightly mad - maybe RR overdid the gloom, but the tax rises are paying for a) the welfare U-turns b) the £10bn-plus increase in headroom c) scrapping the two child limit d) bits of other spending eg higher local gov costs 🤷🏻♀️
December 1, 2025 at 8:15 AM
This story is starting to make me feel I’m going slightly mad - maybe RR overdid the gloom, but the tax rises are paying for a) the welfare U-turns b) the £10bn-plus increase in headroom c) scrapping the two child limit d) bits of other spending eg higher local gov costs 🤷🏻♀️
Reposted by Karen Buck
Somehow this got missed off the "Benefit Street" front pages today
70% of the additional spending from removing the two-child limit will go to families who are in work. This is targeting support for low-income working households who are being priced out of a decent standard of living despite doing everything asked of them.
November 27, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Somehow this got missed off the "Benefit Street" front pages today
Reposted by Karen Buck
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Reposted by Karen Buck
"It's amazing what people get so angry about and on that side it's lifting children out of poverty," says Rachel Reeves as Conservative MPs try to shout down her announcement that she is scrapping the two child benefit cap which has pushed hundreds of thousands of children below the poverty line
November 26, 2025 at 1:33 PM
"It's amazing what people get so angry about and on that side it's lifting children out of poverty," says Rachel Reeves as Conservative MPs try to shout down her announcement that she is scrapping the two child benefit cap which has pushed hundreds of thousands of children below the poverty line
💯yes to this.
The abolition of the two-child benefit cap, which punishes children for their parents' circumstances, is the best part of the budget, potentially lifting almost half a million children out of poverty.
It may also be the part that comes under fiercest attack. So it needs celebrating and defending.
It may also be the part that comes under fiercest attack. So it needs celebrating and defending.
And the two child benefit limit is abolished. An enormous victory for those who have campaigned tirelessly for eight long years through successive governments. This will lift at least 450,000 children out of poverty. Fewer kids will be hungry. No more women forced to disclose their rape.
November 26, 2025 at 2:34 PM
💯yes to this.
Reposted by Karen Buck
This is another thing I had to cut from my piece - the minimum wage is best understood as an anti-poverty measure *for single or childless couples at the start of their working lives*. But it's not a lever that helps most people struggling to make ends meet. Only cash transfers do that.
November 25, 2025 at 4:39 PM
This is another thing I had to cut from my piece - the minimum wage is best understood as an anti-poverty measure *for single or childless couples at the start of their working lives*. But it's not a lever that helps most people struggling to make ends meet. Only cash transfers do that.
Reposted by Karen Buck
A million low-income households have lost an average of £1,500 each because of Local Housing Allowance Freeze, says new analysis by @theifs.bsky.social
ifs.org.uk/articles/fre...
ifs.org.uk/articles/fre...
Freezes in housing support once again widen geographic disparities for low-income renters | Institute for Fiscal Studies
Freezes to local housing allowances reduce the disposable incomes of low-income private renters. LHA rates should be regularly and locally uprated.
ifs.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 8:41 AM
A million low-income households have lost an average of £1,500 each because of Local Housing Allowance Freeze, says new analysis by @theifs.bsky.social
ifs.org.uk/articles/fre...
ifs.org.uk/articles/fre...
I think we have tested to destruction the idea, argued by Ministers during the welfare ‘reforms’ post-2010, that if you cut help for low income renters, the market will respond by reducing rents.
NEW: Freezes to housing support have reduced disposable incomes and widened geographic disparities for low-income renters.
📗 Read Jed Michael and Tom Wernham’s new briefing on the implications of local housing allowance (LHA) rate freezes: [THREAD 🧵]
📗 Read Jed Michael and Tom Wernham’s new briefing on the implications of local housing allowance (LHA) rate freezes: [THREAD 🧵]
November 21, 2025 at 8:21 AM
I think we have tested to destruction the idea, argued by Ministers during the welfare ‘reforms’ post-2010, that if you cut help for low income renters, the market will respond by reducing rents.
Reposted by Karen Buck
Vote Tory in Westminster; get Reform. The second Westminster Conservative defection in recent months to Reform. Given how right wing some of the current Tory candidates are who else might make the jump particularly after the election in May? www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-...
Another London Tory councillor defects to Reform UK amid 'abject crisis'
Councillor Alan Mendoza said Britain was in 'abject crisis'
www.mylondon.news
November 19, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Vote Tory in Westminster; get Reform. The second Westminster Conservative defection in recent months to Reform. Given how right wing some of the current Tory candidates are who else might make the jump particularly after the election in May? www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-...
Reposted by Karen Buck
On asylum there seems to be no attempt to analyse different parts of the problem in a way that allows serious public discussion 🧵
November 17, 2025 at 3:08 PM
On asylum there seems to be no attempt to analyse different parts of the problem in a way that allows serious public discussion 🧵
Councils are on their knees after 15 years of financial squeeze. Enforcement (against poor quality accommodation, illegal evictions, illegal short lets) is difficult and expensive. Yet without enforcement capacity we won’t get the best from the legislation….
Our Head of Campaigns @nyejones92.bsky.social told @theguardian.com why landlords MUST be held accountable for the poor quality of our homes.
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/n...
Two-thirds of English councils have not prosecuted a single landlord in past three years
Exclusive: Councils prosecuted just 64 landlords despite receiving 300,000 complaints from tenants in unfit homes
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Councils are on their knees after 15 years of financial squeeze. Enforcement (against poor quality accommodation, illegal evictions, illegal short lets) is difficult and expensive. Yet without enforcement capacity we won’t get the best from the legislation….