Housing Benefit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the likely effect of changes to the payment of housing benefit on the ability of registered landlords to borrow for housing investment; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Prisk: The CLG is working alongside the DWP to ensure that universal credit is designed in a way that protects social landlords' financial position. To help achieve this, we are working closely with a group of social landlords and local authorities from six areas across the country on the direct payment demonstration projects, to test the impact of paying housing benefit direct to tenants.  A key aim of the demonstration projects is to explore the best safeguards to protect tenants and social landlords from the risk of increases in rent arrears. The projects are also helping local authorities and housing associations understand how they need to prepare for the introduction of universal credit. We intend to use the evidence gathered from the projects to inform the design of universal credit, including consideration of safeguards that would best protect the financial position of social landlords and reduce the risk of tenants falling into debt.  Read more on the Hansard website.