Housing Benefit
[4]: 276–288 Local authorities reclaim the housing benefit that they have paid from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by means of submitting heavily audited subsidy claims.
Its full transfer took place in 1989 as part of a major reform of social security legislation which also saw the introduction of Income Support.
[8] In 2017, new building providing supported housing for vulnerable people is being cut due to uncertainty whether prospective tenants will be able to pay the rent.
Schemes affected include homes for war veterans, for people with learning disabilities helping them live independently.
[11] Polly Neate of Shelter said, "The money put forward [by the government for social housing] is only a fraction of what’s needed, given just how bad this crisis has become.
Whether a struggling family or a young person in low-paid work, the freeze is stripping away the help people desperately need to pay their rent.
(...) We are urging the government to abandon the freeze on housing benefit in the autumn budget or risk making more people homeless".
[12] The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) stated that in 2018 one in six pensioners is in poverty due to falling home ownership, rising rents and the benefits freeze.
[13] Due to the freeze housing benefit no longer covers rent and low income people risk being forced into poverty and homelessness.
[15] Before the introduction of the Local Housing Allowance the only way of finding out whether the benefit for the property would be restricted would have been to obtain a Pre Tenancy Determination.
If the circumstances of the individual claimant were broadly the same as that of the prospective tenant who made the request for the PTD the decision remained valid for a year.
[16] Delays and rent restrictions were so endemic in the system that it became common to see classified advertisements for lettings stating No DSS (the then-Department of Social Security, now called the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)).
[18] Very few councils are now reporting backlogs, although the recession has seen an increase in case-load which has resulted in the Government granting Local Authorities an additional £45 million[19] for 2009/10 in order to ensure continued good performance.
The age at which most single people can claim for a self-contained one bedroom flat (rather than the shared room rate) was increased to 35 years.
Exceptions to this apply to some groups, including care leavers aged under 22, some people who have a disability and over 25s who have spent at least three months living in hostel accommodation, subject to meeting further conditions.
Transitional protection will apply to existing claimants, their eligible rent will be reduced based on the anniversary date of when they first made their claim for benefit.
Roger Harding of Shelter stated, "We have grave concerns that the current freeze on housing benefit is pushing hundreds of thousands of private renters perilously close to breaking point at a time when homelessness is rising.
For those hit by the freeze, housing benefit is failing to bridge the widening gap between escalating private rents and incomes that simply can’t keep up.
This has caused hardship among poorer tenants who do not have enough money to heat their homes, to buy food and also to pay their rent, the Chartered Institute of Housing has found.
[25][26] In October 2022, Home REIT was established to invest in properties occupied by tenants who qualify for Housing Benefit payments.
[27] On 7 December 2022, a group of shareholders claimed the company had misled the market by investing in properties occupied by tenants who are not vulnerable and therefore would not qualify for Housing Benefit payments.
