Shift Homelessness Funding From Crisis Response To Prevention, Say ALMOs

Homelessness budgets should be shifted to focus on prevention measures rather than crisis response, the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) has said. In a new report by NFA, the body has said more funding should be put to the areas that ensure people do not end up on the streets in the first place. This includes removing benefit and Local Housing Allowance caps, providing targeted funding initiatives to employment initiatives and undertaking a significant escalation in the development of truly affordable social homes. Download the report from the NFA website.

http://www.almos.org.uk/document?id=8653

Nine In 10 Homes Unaffordable For Families

The benefit freeze is pushing low income families to the brink, with more than nine in ten homes for private rent (94%) too expensive for those on housing benefit. And new NHF research reveals two thirds of these families (65%) are in work. Now, NHF is calling on the government to:

·         End the freeze and increase LHA payments so that they cover at least the bottom 30% of private rent homes in any local area

·         Commit to investing £12.8bn annually in building new social housing, so that fewer families have to depend on unaffordable and insecure privately rented accommodation

Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/housing-benefit-freeze-means-9-in-10-homes-unaffordable-for-families/

Government Lifts LHA Cap For PRS But Benefit Rates Remain Frozen

Ministers will raise the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap for private sector renters for the first time since 2015 – although benefit rates will remain frozen. n April, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will raise the cap on how much housing-related benefit tenants can claim by 3% for 2018/19. That means areas where LHA rates are currently up against the cap will be able to receive Targeted Affordability Funding (TAF) for the first time. The move could take pressure off Discretionary Housing Payment funding in these areas – top-up funds administered by councils to help people whose housing-related benefit falls short of their rent. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:q7mAD02BFGIJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/government-lifts-lha-cap-but-benefit-rates-remain-frozen-54951+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

 

Freeze On LHA Rates Risks Increasing Homelessness

The Local Government Association (LGA) has published the results of a survey which showed 96% of councils are concerned homelessness will increase if benefit rates are not lifted. Private tenants are only allowed to claim the ‘Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate’ – which is supposed to reflect the lowest 30% of private sector rents in a specific area. But rates have been frozen since April 2016, and are not set to rise until 2020. Actual rents are expected to rise by around 5% over this time, with particularly sharp rises in areas of high demand – creating shortfalls between benefit entitlement and actual rents. The LGA’s survey showed almost unanimous concern about this policy from councils of all political colours, with 76 town halls responding. Read more on the LGA website.

Government Urged To Lift Housing Benefits Cap As 1 Million Families Face Homelessness

The Government must lift the cap on housing benefits or see a million households facing homelessness within the next two years, politicians and campaigners have warned. In a cross-sector letter, shared exclusively with The Independent, more than 30 homeless charities, faith leaders and MPs have issued a direct warning to the Chancellor. Abandoning the freeze on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for private renters is “essential” in order for low-income families to avoid homelessness, they wrote. Read more on the Independent website.

Government Drops LHA Cap Plans In Huge Climbdown

The government has dropped plans to cap housing benefit in the social housing sector at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates in a huge climbdown following widespread criticism. The plans to introduce the LHA cap for both general needs social housing and supported housing will be dropped. The future funding model for supported housing will be revealed next Tuesday (31 October). The sector had been anxiously awaiting an update from government on their future plans for supported housing after a green paper was promised in the spring but had yet to materialise. The prime minister said: “We will not apply the Local Housing Allowance cap to supported housing – indeed we will not be implementing it in the wider social housing sector, and the full details will be made available when we publish our response to the consultation” Read more on Inside Housing.

Warning Over Benefits Tempers Rent Settlement Optimism

Welfare reforms could leave some tenants struggling to pay higher rents once they begin rising in 2020, experts have warned, tempering some of the optimism about the recent rent deal. The announcement that social landlords will be able to raise rents by Consumer Price Index plus 1% for five years from 2020 was widely welcomed by the sector as a generous deal. However, some have warned that the forthcoming cap on benefits at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels, which is due to be imposed from April 2019, could create a shortfall between housing benefit and rents, leaving tenants having to cover the difference themselves. Read more on Inside Housing.

Associations Pull 85% Of Planned Supported Housing Developments

The National Housing Federation (NHF) said the dramatic drop in development is due to uncertainty over the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap. The government was meant to publish a Green Paper on the future of supported housing during the spring but this has not yet materialised. The NHF’s survey of 69 housing associations which together provide a third of supported housing revealed they had previously planned to build 8,800 units of supported housing but now had a total pipeline of just 1,350. Those who provided additional detail in the survey said 71 schemes representing 2,185 homes have been postponed, 19 have been cancelled outright, and 25 existing schemes are threatened with closure. Read more on Inside Housing.

Sector Calls On Government To Delay Supported Housing Changes

Housing figures have called on the new government to put back controversial plans to change the funding of supported housing, due to the current political hiatus.  Housing association leaders and trade bodies said ministers should put a halt to proposals to cap supported housing benefit payments at the level of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). The government had planned to introduce this controversial cap from April 2019, with local authorities to provide top-ups for costs above the LHA rates through devolved ringfenced funding. Read more on Inside Housing.

88% Of Social Rents Could Increase Without Exceeding LHA Cap

Nearly nine out of ten social homes in the country could increase their rents without hitting the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap level.  In looking at rents in the social housing sector, Savills have found that although this is true, “the scope will vary across the country.” They also had a warning for the social housing sector when thinking about rent increases: “Hitting up against the LHA caps could bring housing even closer to the politics of welfare. Rents must be affordable to households both in and out of employment.” Following calls from providers to set their own rents, Savills are somewhat for and against the idea. Read more on the Savills website.

Capping Aspiration: The Millennial Housing Challenge

The government’s plans to cap housing benefit at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels would lock 84% of young people in low-paid, insecure jobs out of all housing options in the South East. This is the warning from research by Sheffield Hallam University for the Consortium of Associations in the South East (CASE). CASE members said the government should reconsider using the shared accommodation rate as the maximum level for housing benefit for under-35s. Instead, it should give associations and local authorities the freedoms and flexibilities to continue to meet the housing needs of this group, the report said. Researchers said in their report Capping aspiration: the millennial housing challenge that some 84% of people aged under 35 in the South East would be affected when benefits are capped from April 2019. Download the report from the Sovreign website.

MPs Urge Government To Drop LHA Cap Plan For Supported Housing

MPs are calling on the government to abandon plans to base supported housing funding on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. A joint report by the CLG and DWP Committees on the future of supported housing finds LHA rates are an “inappropriate starting point” for a new funding model. It argues instead for a new supported housing allowance, banded to reflect the actual cost of different types of provision.  The government plans to cap housing benefit for supported housing at the LHA rate from April 2019, with local authorities providing top-ups for costs above this rate. But the committees found that, unlike the LHA rate, the cost of provision is largely consistent across the country so some areas will rely on top-ups more than others. Read more on the ARCH website.

Manchester Providers Offer To Pilot Alternative To LHA Cap

Social landlords in Greater Manchester have offered to run a regional pilot of an alternative to the controversial ‘Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap’ in supported housing. Supported and sheltered housing providers fear government plans to cap benefit entitlement at LHA rates from 2019 could make their businesses unviable. LHA rates are set according to the lowest 30% of local market rents, making them well below the rental cost of supported housing. Under current proposals, councils would be given cash to top up the difference but providers have voiced concerns that this system would lead to uncertainty with new schemes under development on hold as a result. Read more on Inside Housing.

Charities Criticise Government Fund To Address LHA Rate Freeze

Charities have slammed a government fund intended to mitigate the worst effects of the Local Housing Allowance freeze, after it confirmed just £13.3m will be available next year. Recent research by Shelter revealed one in four families in a two-bedroom home must find an extra £100 a month or more to make up the shortfall in their rent due to the LHA rate freeze. Marc Francis, policy and campaigns director at anti-poverty charity Z2K, said: “In those parts of the country experiencing the sharpest rent rises, there is little or no benefit, leaving disabled and unemployed private tenants with an increasing shortfall between the rent they owe and the housing benefit they receive.” Read more on Inside Housing.

Associations Will Not Build Supported Housing Without LHA Cap Certainty

Housing associations will not spend government funding earmarked for supported housing schemes unless more certainty is given over the Local Housing Allowance cap. Several providers told Inside Housing they are not willing to start building supported housing developments despite bidding for the funding through the HCA’s Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme. It comes amid warnings that £2bn of government funding to fix social care announced in the Budget this week could be undermined by uncertainty over supported housing funding. 27 housing providers, some bidding as part of consortia, were recently awarded supported housing funding. Read more on Inside Housing.

LHA Cap: £64m Funding Gap Risks Breaking Service

The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap for supported housing risks “breaking” sheltered housing, three specialist housing providers have warned. Anchor, Hanover and Housing & Care 21 warn the proposals could result in up to a £64m annual shortfall. The three organisations provide services for almost 100,000 residents and estimate they will face a £64m shortfall if the cap is brought in and the one-bed LHA rate is applied to all the sheltered housing they own combined. There is an estimated £58m shortfall if the two-bed rate is applied to those living in two-bedroom properties. The government has proposed to fund the extra costs of supported housing through a ringfenced top-up fund administered by councils. Read more on Inside Housing.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will ensure that ring-fenced funding for local authorities will meet the shortfall between LHA rates and the cost of provision of supported housing.

What assessment they have made of the impact of the proposed application of the cap on supported housing providers based in those parts of the country where there is a significant gap between LHA rates and the cost of provision.

Lord Henley: the new funding model will ensure that the supported housing sector will be funded at the same level it would have otherwise been in 2019/20, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents.

The Variable Impact Of The LHA Cap Across Different Areas

The CIH, in collaboration with Riverside, have produced a research report on supported housing which covers:

·         The significant variation in the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap across the country

·         Rents and service charges for supported and sheltered housing are relatively consistent across the country for similar types of scheme.

·         A higher LHA cap would reduce the numbers of people affected by the new system

·         A relatively small increase in the LHA cap for older people living in sheltered housing would have a large impact in reducing the number of people reliant on the local top up

·         A higher LHA cap could go some way to simplifying the new system

Download the report from the CIH website.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect on funding for housing benefit for residents in supported housing of capping that benefit in line with local housing allowance levels from 2019-20.

Caroline Nokes: In his Written Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons on 15th September 2016 the Secretary of State confirmed that the new funding model will ensure that the supported housing sector will be funded at the same level it would have otherwise been in 2019/20, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents.

DWP ‘Deliberately Misleading The Public’ About The Impact Of Housing Benefit Cuts

The DWP has been accused of “peddling lies and deliberately misleading the public” about the impact of upcoming cuts to housing benefit.  Upcoming cuts to housing benefit for tenants in the social rented sector, which come into force from early 2019, will see housing benefit for people living in social housing capped at the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate. The director of Angus Housing Association, Bruce Forbes, accused the DWP of attempting to “deliberately mislead the public by implying that it is the increasing cost of social housing sector rents that has seen the Housing Benefit bill spiral out of control”. Read more on Welfare Weekly.