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Nine in 10 homes unaffordable for families claiming housing benefit, CIH analysis reveals
Crisis has urged the next government to tackle the “root causes” of homelessness as new research from the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) shows the vast majority of new homes remain unaffordable to families on housing benefit.
The charity has upped its lobbying effort ahead of the general election by pointing to new figures showing that in a third of areas across the UK 90% of homes are unaffordable to small families claiming housing benefit.
Crisis said the CIH analysis, contained in a new report, Frozen Out, released today, adds further weight to its Cover the Cost campaign, which calls for urgent investment in housing benefit so it covers market rents.
Historically the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was supposed to ensure that housing benefit covered the 30% quartile of the most affordable homes in any given area. However, in a bid to rein in government spending, an LHA freeze was put in place in 2016. This is expected to end in April.
In the report, the CIH also found that in 60% of all areas in England the LHA rate would cover only the lowest 15% of rent rates in the given area.
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The CIH is calling for LHA rates to cover the lowest 30% of all homes in a given area. Last week, while speaking to Inside Housing, the CIH listed this as one of their key aims for the new government to take on.
The figures from the CIH echo those published by the National Housing Federation last month, which claimed that nine in 10 homes for private rent are too expensive for people on housing benefit.
Separately, a new poll from Crisis and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has revealed that 73% of the public agree that increasing housing benefit is better than spending on emergency accommodation.
The charity is also among a coalition of five other not-for-profit groups calling for an end to homelessness as part of a pre-election campaign launched last week.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “Ending homelessness is truly possible but we have to tackle the root causes, not just treat the symptoms.
“We need to see commitment from the next government to sign up to our manifesto to end all forms of homelessness, which includes urgent investment in housing benefit.”
Around 1.3 million families currently rely on the LHA, which stopped keeping up with inflation when it was frozen in 2016.
In a paper entitled Housing for the Many, published last year, Labour flagged that more than £20bn a year is currently spent on housing benefit which “plugs the gap between housing costs and household incomes”.
