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 thanks to changes to housing benefits.

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

Increases to the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) are expected to benefit thousands 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 applied to renters aged under 35 claiming support through Local Housing Allowance (LHA). It adjusts their benefit to the cost of renting a room in shared accommodation, but there is a higher, one-bedroom rate for people who need to rent solo housing.

DWP says that care leavers can now claim the higher one-bedroom LHA rate for longer, as the maximum age limit has been raised to 25, from 22. Additionally, anyone who has lived in a homeless hostel for three months or more, regardless of age, will also now be able to claim the higher rate, as the age limit has been removed.

Minister for Welfare Delivery Will Quince said: “These changes are an immediate boost for some of the most vulnerable young people in our communities. We know that having a safe, secure home is vital to getting on your feet and often into work. By bringing these changes in early, we’re able to help more people right now, as we all look to recover from the pandemic.”