Fears Over 'LHA Cap' Impact On Under-35s

Eight in 10 housing benefit awards for single social tenants under the age of 35 are over the proposed ‘Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap’, according to research by Shelter. The charity has used government figures to quantify the potential impact on young single people of plans to cap housing benefit for social tenants in line with LHA rates. Single people under 35 would only be allowed to claim the shared accommodation rate which is often lower than housing benefit awards. The policy only applies to new tenancies from April 2016 and does not kick in until 2018. Shelter analysis shows 136,191 housing benefit awards made to single under-35s in social housing in August last year were over the LHA cap. This is 76% of the total number of single under-35s in social housing claiming housing benefit. Read more on the Shelter blog.