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Govt to reverse universal credit policy for homeless famiilies
From today’s Guardian
Ministers are to bow to pressure to exclude homeless families from universal credit after it emerged that design flaws in the troubled new benefits system have triggered an explosion in rent arrears, costing council tax payers millions of pounds ...
It is understood that ministers are preparing to issue new guidance under which homeless families in full universal credit rollout areas will receive financial support through housing benefit.
Presumably this will need new regs too?
Isn’t it time to wheel out this canard again? A spokesperson for the DWP argued that the best way to help people pay their rent was to get them into work and that UC was doing that faster, and helping them remain in a job.
“Universal credit customers are not able to claim housing support if their rental liability is less than six weeks”
Presumably this is referring to the fact that max UC is determined by reference to the claimant’s circumstances on the final day of the assessment period: if they have any housing costs on that day the award will contain a housing element for the whole month based on those costs and if they have no housing costs on that day it won’t.
How likely is it that someone placed in B&B will have no housing costs less than one month later? I think the issue highlighted in the article concerns people who remain homeless but have moved from B&B to short term leased by the end of AP1, in which the housing element for the whole month is based on the claimant’s personal LHA all the same. It’s probably more difficult to reconcile payments and obviously a lot less convenient than good old fashioned rent rebate, but I am not sure it is correct that under UC the first few weeks’ rent just quietly disappears is it?
As explanations go, the DWP’s latest effusion smacks of desperation.
I’d be very happy for the policy to be reversed but the article didn’t mention the problem which arises for most of my clients with temp accom. - the UC housing element being limited to the LHA. In some cases the UC claim was only made because clients previously on HB became homeless, had a period with literally nowhere (sofa surfing) so HB claim ended, then when they get a place, area has become full service…
Its good news if true. The Guardian is presumably not close to the Governments thinking. They recently published an article saying the Govt was backtracking on the “no automatic right to HB 18-21 year olds” a few days before the government went ahead….....
The proposal would make a lot of sense, as UC takes longer to come through than the time LAS are supposed to keep homeless families in bed and breakfast (six weeks), and already the govts thinking is that UC is not suitable for emergency single homeless services and refuges (supported housing consultation).