Changes to housing benefits to help homeless

The Department for Work and Pensions has said that care leavers and homeless people could receive extra housing support because of changes to housing benefits.

The changes are came into force from 31 May – two years sooner than scheduled. This will offer £10 million of more housing support, bringing the entire projected government spend on housing support to £30 billion this year.

Increases to the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) are expected to benefit a large number of Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants, and have been introduced more than two years earlier than the original implementation date of October 2023.

The SAR is used to renters aged under 35 claiming support through Local Housing Allowance (LHA). It adjusts their help to the cost of renting an area in shared accommodation, but there is a higher, one-bedroom rate for those who have to rent solo housing.

DWP says that care leavers can now claim the larger one-bedroom LHA rate for longer, because the maximum age limit continues to be raised to 25, from 22. Additionally, anyone who has lived inside a homeless hostel for three months or more, no matter age, will also now be able to claim the higher rate, because the age limit continues to be removed.

Minister for Welfare Delivery Will Quince said: “These changes are an immediate boost for many of the very most vulnerable young people within our communities. We know that having a safe, secure home is vital to making the feet and frequently into work. By bringing these alterations in early, we’re able to help more people at this time, as we all turn to recover from the pandemic.”