by Keith Richmond
Shelter’s Christmas message to the Government is stark – changes in local housing allowance have left thousands of tenants struggling to manage their finances and many are now in danger of losing their homes.
A new report from the charity, For Whose Benefit, says LHA, a form of housing benefit which was introduced last year for tenants in private rented housing, is not fulfilling its original objectives and is in urgent need of reform.
The allowance was designed to promote fairness, choice and personal responsibility by paying rent money into the tenant’s bank account rather than to their landlord. Shelter says it is in fact taking choice away and causing serious financial hardship, with more than a quarter of tenants now in arrears and some going without food and heating this winter in order to pay the rent.
Kay Boycott, Shelter’s director of policy and campaigns, said: “LHA was intended to introduce desperately needed reform to housing benefit. While we support the original principles, it is currently failing tenants and landlords. Our research shows the government must make urgent changes to ensure claimants do not continue to be disadvantaged.”
The charity is calling on the government to restore choice to tenants about whether the allowance is paid direct to them or to their landlord.
