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

Housing Benefit: Coronavirus – Parliamentary Written Answer

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to introduce three-month bloc payments of housing benefit to homelessness accommodation providers to reduce financial risk during the covid-19 outbreak; and if she will make a statement.

Will Quince: Like many other social security benefits, as well as most other forms of income, Housing Benefit is paid in arrears. The reason for this is that payment in arrears reduces the scope for fraud and potential overpayments of benefit. The Government has no current plans to change the current payment arrangements for people in Supported Housing who are in receipt of Housing Benefit.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2020-03-23/33495

£12m A Year On Tackling Housing Benefit Fraud

The government has announced extra cash to help local authorities crack down on housing benefit fraud and error, as part of the housing announcements in the Budget. Council resources to tackle fraud and error associated with the benefit will be bolstered by an extra £12m a year. But the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the policy is likely to see “diminishing returns”. The OBR noted that housing benefit is being replaced by Universal Credit for working-age claimants but government is providing the same funding – £12m – each year, despite fewer people claiming housing benefit as a result of the switch. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/government-to-spend-12m-a-year-on-tackling-housing-benefit-fraud-65394?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Increasing Housing Benefit By Inflation ‘Not Enough’ To Fight Rising Poverty

Crisis warns increasing housing benefit by inflation won’t be enough to fight rising poverty. Government is expected to announce an end to the freeze on benefits by agreeing to increase income-related benefits by inflation. Research has also revealed almost four in 10 households that seek debt advice and receive benefits, including housing benefit, would still not have enough money to cover their costs by 2024 – even if these rises were to continue in years to come. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/increasing-housing-benefit-by-inflation-not-enough-to-fight-rising-poverty/

Affordable Homes, UC Advice And Calls For Rental Minister

The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper considering how affordable housing is defined in England.  It examines the supply of affordable housing and the role of Housing Benefit in allowing families to access and keep affordable housing. The paper states: “Home ownership has been difficult to access in recent years, particularly for first-time buyers, while access to social housing is constrained by a lack of supply. The private rented sector has been the beneficiary and now houses more households than the social rented sector. Private sector rent levels in high pressure areas have increased in response to demand.” Download the paper from the Library.

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7747

Council Owed £5.5m In Housing Benefit That It Overpaid To Residents

Stockport council is currently owed more than £5.5m in housing benefits it has wrongly paid out to residents. The figure represents the total amount of money outstanding - including from previous years - that is yet to be recouped by the authority. Overpayments made to people in receipt of the benefit totalled £2.2m over the last financial year, while some £354,000 was written off over the same period. The council - which was owed a total of £5.8m at the end of 2018/19 - has warned it will ‘exhaust all reasonable avenues’ in order to recover the money. Read more on the MEN website.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/stockport-council-housing-benefit-overpaid-17089176

Government Has Made No Assessment Of Case For Increasing Housing Benefit

There has been no government assessment of the case for increasing the scope of housing support, despite the sector stressing the need for investment. Crossbench peer Lord Hylton put a written Lords question as to the extent of assessment of the case for increasing both the scope and total amount of housing benefit – including any resulting savings on temporary accommodation and other costs. For the DWP, Tory peer Baroness Stedman-Scott said no assessment has been made of either case with decisions on the uprating of Local Housing Allowance from April 2020 to be “discussed later this year.” Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-has-made-no-assessment-of-case-for-increasing-housing-benefit/

Locked Out: How Britain Keeps People Homeless

Families on housing benefit are priced out of almost all homes to rent in Britain, according to new research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. As part of an investigation into housing and new homelessness laws, the Bureau has found that councils have been increasingly encouraging those facing or experiencing homelessness to try renting privately, rather than wait for a council house.

However, only 1 in 20 of two-bed properties in the research were affordable. In some cities, the Bureau found almost no affordable two-bed flats to rent. Read more on the BIJ website.

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2019-10-04/locked-out-how-britain-keeps-people-homeless

Universal Credit Will Double Homelessness In The UK? Yep!

Last week a significant piece of research comparing Universal Credit and Housing Benefit went largely unnoticed. Its findings were alarming and council landlords:

·         Issued 5 x as many possession notices on UC tenants than on HB tenants 

·         Took court action on 4 x the number of UC tenants than HB tenants

·         Evicted 3 x as many UC tenants as HB tenants

·         Saw UC tenant abandonments rise by SIXTEEN TIMES that of HB tenants

Read more on the SpeyeJoe blog.

https://speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2019/07/30/universal-credit-will-double-homelessness-in-the-uk-yep/

Council Tenants On Universal Credit 16 Times More Likely To Abandon Tenancies

Council tenants on Universal Credit are 16 times more likely to abandon their tenancies and three times more likely to be evicted than those receiving housing benefit, a new report has indicated. A survey of local authority landlords by the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) and the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) also revealed that the new welfare system is costing councils hundreds of thousands of pounds in extra housing management spending. It showed that two-thirds (67%) of council tenants receiving Universal Credit are currently in rent arrears, owing an average of £564 – equivalent to seven weeks’ rent. In comparison, 21% of households on housing benefit are in arrears, owing £221. Download the report from the ARCH website.

http://www.arch-housing.org.uk/media/130243/arch_nfa_universal_credit_survey_2019_v4_web.pdf

Private Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the proportion of private landlords who refuse to rent accommodation to people who receive social security payments.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: According to the English Private Landlord Survey 2018: 52 per cent of landlords and 37 per cent of agents reported that they would be unwilling to let to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit. 47 per cent of landlords and 33 per cent of agents reported that they would be unwilling to let to anyone on Universal Credit.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-07-08/274566

London Councils Pay Landlords £14m In 'Incentives' To House Homeless People

Cash-strapped London councils are paying private landlords more than £14m a year in “incentives” simply to persuade them to house homeless people. The sweetener payments of up to £8,300 each were made to landlords more than 5,700 times in 2018 to house people who were either homeless or considered at risk of homelessness, freedom of information requests have revealed. The payouts are made in addition to rent and have been branded as ludicrous by housing campaigners and intolerable by councils. The fall in social housebuilding and a widening gap between housing benefit and market rents appear to be fuelling the payments. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/25/london-councils-pay-landlords-14m-in-incentives-to-house-homeless-people

Zoopla Promises To End Housing Benefit Discrimination

People receiving housing benefit can no longer be barred from renting properties advertised on one of the UK's largest listing sites. Zoopla says it will prohibit landlords posting "No DSS" ads, a commonly-used acronym of the now defunct Department of Social Security. The National Housing Federation and Shelter found that one in 10 agents in England refused to let to DSS tenants. The BBC found the policy was enforced even if tenants could afford the rent. Approximately 889,000 people in England receive housing benefit to help pay their rent. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47567568

Figures Suggest Universal Credit Is Driving Homelessness And Evictions

Using Freedom of Information Act laws, Inside Housing has obtained figures about numbers of people presenting to their councils as homeless while claiming Universal Credit or housing benefit – one of the six benefits replaced by the government’s flagship welfare reform programme. Among 42 councils which provided data, nearly 5,000 households have declared themselves homeless while claiming Universal Credit since April – out of 168,600 total Universal Credit households across these areas. That equates to around one in 34 households on Universal Credit becoming homeless. By comparison, a separate set of 31 local authorities said 3,600 households claiming housing benefit presented as homeless over the same period, out of 283,500 in total – approximately one in 79. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/figures-suggest-universal-credit-is-driving-homelessness-and-evictions-59468

MPs Blast Banks For Discriminating Against Tenants On Benefits

MPs have slammed banks for “discriminating” against tenants on housing benefit and suggested the government may need to ban them from operating “no DSS” policies. NatWest was criticised in October after it emerged that the bank prohibited many of its buy-to-let landlord borrowers from having tenants on housing benefit. The Commons work and pensions committee has intervened, saying the government must address the “housing blacklist” created by mortgage lenders’ “no DSS” policies. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/20/mps-blast-banks-for-discriminating-against-tenants-on-benefits

Landlords Pushing Up Rents To Exploit Housing Benefit Shortfall

Benefit cuts and unscrupulous landlords have combined to create an explosion in temporary housing that is costing taxpayers more than a billion pounds a year. The latest figures reveal that housing benefit does not cover rents in 95 per cent of the country, pushing thousands of families into homelessness. The gap between welfare support and costs is more than £100 a month in much of England and in excess of £900 in central London. Spending by councils on emergency bed and breakfast accommodation has risen by 147 per cent in five years. The number of units has grown by only 32 per cent, leading to claims that rates are being inflated by “wily landlords” to take advantage of spiralling demand.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/landlords-pushing-up-rents-to-exploit-housing-benefit-shortfall-bpvht6lbg

Low-Income Tenants Face 'Heat, Eat Or Pay Rent' Choices

Low-income tenants in the private rented sector face a “heat, eat or pay rent” problem because housing benefit rates have failed to keep up with the soaring cost of accommodation, a study has found. The four-year freeze on local housing allowance levels, which has been in place since April 2016, means some families must meet a shortfall of hundreds of pounds a month on their rent support, according to the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). It said the ongoing housing benefit freeze meant even the lowest private rents were out of reach for many low-income families in most areas – making it more likely that tenants would be forced to choose between living necessities or paying the rent. Read more on the CIH website.

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

Housing Benefit Retained For All In Supported Housing

The government has confirmed that housing benefit will be kept in place “for all those living in supported housing”. Dropping proposals to give councils control of funding short-term accommodation, such as women’s refuges and homelessness shelters, will come as a relief to many in the sector. This plan had run into opposition from charities and housing providers, who feared the ringfence on the grants would be eroded and the cash diverted to fund other council services. Plans for a “sheltered rent”- which would have acted as a limit on the amount providers can charge for sheltered and extra care accommodation- will also not now go ahead. The decisions follow a public consultation. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:o6n0lu5uRJIJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/housing-benefit-retained-for-all-in-supported-housing-as-grant-funding-plan-ditched-57520+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Councils Warn Homelessness Reduction Act Hampered By Welfare Restrictions

Nearly all councils now think the level of housing benefit young people are entitled to isn’t enough to rent in the private sector, according to a new survey by Centrepoint. The charity fears that without reform, welfare restrictions will continue to drive young people into homelessness. This is despite the government’s flagship Homelessness Reduction Act which requires local authorities to provide more tailored support and advice to anyone who is threatened with homelessness. Centrepoint surveyed 119 English councils to examine the challenges they face in delivering their housing duties. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/councils-warn-homelessness-reduction-act-hampered-by-welfare-restrictions/

Private Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent representations his Department has received on the advertising of private property lettings explicitly to exclude people in receipt of housing benefit.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Department has received correspondence on this issue. The Government appreciates the problems that some housing benefit claimants can face in finding accommodation in the private rented sector. We strongly encourage landlords and agents to look at all potential and existing tenants in receipt of housing benefit on an individual basis. We will shortly be publishing a new How to Let guide to help landlords better understand their responsibilities. Legislation exists to prohibit acts of discrimination against individuals in terms of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-05/130788