Benefit System Increases Homelessness

 Homeless Link has published a report looking at the links between the benefits system and homelessness. The report concludes that a lack of available, affordable accommodation will make it difficult to move people on from emergency accommodation after the pandemic. A combination of the frozen Local Housing Allowance and the benefits cap means that people simply cannot afford the property that is available.  Download a copy of the report from the Homeless Link website.

https://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/hl_homelessness%2Bbenefits-london_FINAL-WEB%20%281%29.pdf

Benefits Freeze Will Leave Tenants Facing Rent Arrears Of £1,000

Low-income tenants across much of Britain will be left hundreds of pounds worse off from next month due to the government quietly imposing a real-terms cut in housing benefit. From April, the government is freezing the amount of local housing allowance (LHA), meaning tenants will receive the same amount of money as last financial year, even where rents have gone up. LHA is paid to tenants in privately rented homes, including those on universal credit. In some parts of the country, tenants are set to lose more than £1,000 a year as a result of a combination of rising rents and the new benefit freeze. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/mar/13/benefits-freeze-will-leave-tenants-across-britain-facing-rent-arrears-of-1000

Spending Review Plea Over Future For Local Housing Allowance

A new report from Shelter says the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) freeze should not only end next year as planned but have rates restored to at least the so-called 30th percentile – or cheapest third of local rents. The report From the frontline – Universal Credit and the broken housing safety net also wants a “robust mechanism” in place to keep LHA rates in line with at least the 30th percentile of local rents, regardless of fluctuations in private rents. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/spending-review-plea-over-future-for-local-housing-allowance/

Benefit Freeze Puts Private Renting Out Of Reach For Low-Income Tenants

Even the lowest private rents are now out of reach for people on low incomes – putting thousands at increased risk of homelessness. Research from the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) showed that more than 90 per cent of Local Housing Allowance rates across Great Britain now fail to cover the cheapest rents, as they were originally designed to do. LHA rates were frozen for four years in 2016 and CIH is warning that they have fallen so far behind even the cheapest rents that private renting has become unaffordable for most low income tenants – putting them at risk of homelessness as they are forced to choose between basic living expenses and paying the shortfall. The organisation is calling on the government to review the policy and to end the freeze immediately. Read more on the CIH website.

http://www.cih.org/news-article/display/vpathDCR/templatedata/cih/news-article/data/Benefit_freeze_puts_private_renting_out_of_reach_for_low-income_tenants_and_risks_fuelling_homelessness

Local Housing Allowance – Parliamentary Written Answer

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the Local Housing Allowance and the effect it has on tenants living in the private rented sector.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government currently has no plans to review the Local Housing Allowance. The freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates was introduced from April 2016 and will apply until March 2020.