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Sheltered housing developments ‘shelved due to benefit cuts’

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Pernish
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Sheltered housing doesn’t feature anywhere in Section 3 Support for claimants affected by LHA reforms in the DHP Guidance Manual published this month by DWP. But it’s a good read anyway…..

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Brief update from the HBInfo event yesterday where policy lead on supported housing gave a presentation.

Estimated that supported accommodation costs at least £1b p/a, although DCLG have estimated this could actually be as much as £8b p/a - the fact is, no-one really knows at the moment. Contrivance was repeatedly bought up as being a key concern of ministers and officials. Additional pressure been bought to bear by overall departmental spending cap which will be £126b in 2018/19.

We heard about new definition of Specified Accommodation that was introduced last year to incorporate:

* supported exempt accommodation
* managed properties
* hostels
* refuges

This type of accommodation will be exempt from 1% social rent reduction for one year whilst review is sorted out. The LHA capping policy is also still being developed.

Key concerns highlighted were:

* no link to commissioning locally, only linked to legal definition
* no link to outcomes for service users
* no link to quality of service
* contrived schemes (again)
* weak control of excess charging.

Review report expected spring time (prob end of April), which will be followed by a policy review that they aim to have done by end of this year setting out overall approach. Possible outcome will be localisation of commissioning and finances. No thinking about how to deal with pensioners using supported accommodation at the moment.

One problem highlighted from floor was in respect of people in supported accommodation being allowed to make UC claims and the fact of their accommodation status only coming to light some time down the line and how this could cause problems due to 1-month backdating restriction. Person chairing session said this shouldn’t be a problem as UC claim can be treated as intention to claim HB, so these cases shouldn’t fall foul of any such difficulties.

Daphne
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Lord Freud confirms in written statement that LHA caps will only apply to tenants of supported accommodation whose tenancies begin after April 2017 as opposed to April 2016 - caps will still be applied from 2018 though -

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-03-01/HCWS563/

[ Edited: 1 Mar 2016 at 11:36 am by Daphne ]
HB Anorak
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That will just confuse people even more.  I thought Lord Freud was the details man who actually understands all this stuff, but that announcement has not been thought through.

The policy as (briefly) set out in the Blue Book is that the LHA will apply from April 2018 to tenancies commencing from April 2016.  Given that most of the projects described in the letter will have fairly rapid turnover, there won’t be an enormous number of pre-2017 supported accommodation tenancies left by the time April 2018 comes around.  There isn’t much point in exempting short term licensees from something that isn’t going to happen for two years.

He refers to the ongoing review of all supported accommodation, which might end up involving something like the social sector LHA with additional devolved funds for local commissioning, but a letter like that just makes it look as if any new supported accommodation tenancies/licences from 2017 will be restricted to LHA from 2018 with only the vagaries of the DHP pot for comfort.  I really don’t think that is the policy - if you read the Hansard account of the opposition debate on 27 January a succession of government speakers were at pains to point out that supported accommodation has its own review taking place.  What they should say is:

- forget about social sector LHA and supported accommodation, these are two different things
- if supported accommodation does end up being funded at standard LHA rates through the benefit system it will be because we have decided to localise the funding of extra costs: it will not be because we expect these schemes to survive on LHA levels of rent income subject to the odd claimant maybe getting a DHP

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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The normally reliable Patrick Butler of the Guardian appears to have got his wires slightly crossed on this one.

Social housing benefit cap deferred for a year

Both the headline and the story give the impression that the LHA cap applying to social rents policy has been postponed for a year, whereas the statement from Freud is pretty clearly only about a one year pause for supported accommodation.

Ruth Knox
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One group in Social Housing which seems to me to be left vulnerable are young single people under the age of 35.  As far as I know this could include young people leaving care.  If the shared room figure is applied, it will fall below most Housing Association rents for a 1 bedroom flat.  Am I interpreting this correctly?  Ruth

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Ruth Knox - 02 March 2016 12:08 PM

One group in Social Housing which seems to me to be left vulnerable are young single people under the age of 35.  As far as I know this could include young people leaving care.  If the shared room figure is applied, it will fall below most Housing Association rents for a 1 bedroom flat.  Am I interpreting this correctly?  Ruth

That was certainly raised as a concern at the event I attended on Monday Ruth.

Rehousing Advice.
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This is going to be interesting how this will works with a man, woman and one child moving to a two bedroom social let after April 2016 and then post April 18 the woman and child have left. Believe me this will happen…....

According to the MODEL letter suggested by GOVT.
 
“If you are of working age and have one or more extra bedrooms, your rent and any service charges used in the assessment of your Housing Benefit [or the housing element of Universal Credit] is already capped.

If the difference between your rent and the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household is higher than the reduction for under-occupied bedrooms, only the cap will apply. Similarly, if the reduction for under-occupied bedrooms is higher than the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household, only the reduction for under-occupied bedrooms will apply.

If you are of pension age, you will not receive a reduction in the rent used to assess your Housing Benefit for any under-occupied bedrooms but your rent will be capped to the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household.

Please note – in all cases, you will only receive one reduction. “

So it is like the administrator has to do a “worse off” calculation…......... LHA or Bedroom tax and then apply the worst..?

Maybe I have this wrong?

 

 

 

[ Edited: 2 Mar 2016 at 02:24 pm by Rehousing Advice. ]
HB Anorak
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I think that’s the idea Martin, yes: LHA will run alongside the bedroom tax as an additional alternative eligible rent (or additional alternative UC housing element).  The amount eligible for benefit will be the lowest of the available options.  Otherwise it would pretty much mean the end of the bedroom tax - the vast majority of general needs HA tenancies, even so-called “affordable” ones (what a grotesque euphemism), are within or not too much higher than the LHA rate for the next size down, if you see what I mean.  Eg the one-bed LHA in the Anytown BRMA is more than the typical two-bed rent for an Anytown HA property.  I don’t suppose for one moment the intention is to increase HB in 2018 for everyone currently affected by the bedroom tax, so I think for most people it will be “as you were” and the bedroom tax will generally “trump” the LHA.  So that claimant in your first paragraph isn’t going to experience any change in April 2018

The LHA will undercut the existing HB eligible rent for many single under 35s ... and of course there is supported accommodation, but I’ll say it again, I think it’s a mistake to conflate the supported accommodation review that was going on in any case with the social sector LHA.  Although granted Lord Freud could have made a better job of explaining himself yesterday.

Rehousing Advice.
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Thanks Anorak

I am getting some incredibly bad karma since raising this.

Two bed towers(MyLocaltown) = £90-110….so the LHA looks worse.

Mind you if you factor in a untidy tenancy, you could in fact be looking at 50% of that figure which would then put it under the shared room rate….

Can you get an under occupation deduction on a untidy tenancy? 

 


Welfare Rights Adviser
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Martin - have you got a copy or a link to the MODEL letter

Cheers

Rehousing Advice.
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(Annex A to letter)

MODEL LETTER FOR LANDLORDS TO SEND
 
The Housing Benefit [or housing element of Universal Credit] that you receive in the future is changing

I am writing to you because from 1 April 2018, the way Housing Benefit [or the housing element of Universal Credit] is calculated will be changing.

What does it mean for me?

If you have signed a new or renewed tenancy from 1 April 2016 [1 April 2017 for supported accommodation tenancies] onwards, the amount of Housing Benefit [or the Housing element of Universal Credit] that you may receive from 1 April 2018 could be restricted.

This is because if you rent from a local authority, a registered housing association or other registered social landlord the amount of Housing Benefit [or the housing element of Universal Credit] you will receive will be capped to the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household size that currently applies to private sector tenants. The Local Housing Allowance rates for your area can be found at http://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Search.aspx

If you are under 35 years old and do not have any dependent children living with you, your eligible rent will be capped to a shared accommodation rate even if you do not share your home with anyone else. The rate for your area can be found at http://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Search.aspx

Will I also have to pay for any spare rooms?

If you are of working age and have one or more extra bedrooms, your rent and any service charges used in the assessment of your Housing Benefit [or the housing element of Universal Credit] is already capped.

If the difference between your rent and the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household is higher than the reduction for under-occupied bedrooms, only the cap will apply. Similarly, if the reduction for under-occupied bedrooms is higher than the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household, only the reduction for under-occupied bedrooms will apply.

If you are of pension age, you will not receive a reduction in the rent used to assess your Housing Benefit for any under-occupied bedrooms but your rent will be capped to the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate for your household.

Please note – in all cases, you will only receive one reduction.

What do I need to do now?

If you sign a new tenancy or renew a tenancy after 1 April 2016 [1 April 2017 for supported accommodation] you will need to think about whether the rent you pay in the social sector is higher than that allowed for private rented sector tenants.
In particular, if you are in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit on or after 1 April 2018, you will need to consider how your will afford any shortfall in your rent. The website links above will help you to determine whether your rent is above the Local Housing Allowance rates for your area.

If you are unsure if this applies to you, please contact us or your local authority.

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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HB Anorak - 01 March 2016 11:53 AM

I thought Lord Freud was the details man who actually understands all this stuff,

sorry but that made me lolz etc :-)

HB Anorak
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In answer to Martin’s question about untidy tenancies, yes there will be cases where what used to be a couple with children will become a single person under 35.  In UC the size criteria rely on the “Extended Benefit Unit” (the “E-boo” (c) Gareth Morgan), which consists of the “benefit unit” (the Boo?) plus non-deps.  As soon as a partner and children are disaggregated from the E-boo they will no longer be taken into account under the size criteria.  From the start of the AP in which they are disaggregated, just to rub salt in the wound.

The DWP would no doubt say this is what happens already in the private sector, they are only restoring fairness etc, because they don’t see, or choose not to see, that there is something qualitatively very different about a social tenancy compared with a six month private tenancy.

Paul_Treloar_AgeUK
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Joe Halewood blog piece picking up on Peter’s points about the lack of clarity from Freud in his statement to Parliament.

However the real issue is whether sheltered housing is included or not in this 1 year deferment and the precise wording of Freud’s statement is much more than a semantic argument when it is read and re-read.

Much of sheltered housing may not be considered as supported housing and it is often not “exempt accommodation” or “specified accommodation” under HB regulations.  That is a known fact and more significantly, is a fact known to Lord Freud.

Many tenants in the many forms of sheltered housing are also NOT older people which we must assume means those of state pension age when Freud uses the vague term of “supported housing for older … people” in the statement.  Many sheltered housing tenants are between 55 and 67 and thereore not of state pension age.  The 1 year deferment will not apply to them either and so can landlords of low level (category 1) sheltered housing let to new tenants from 4 weeks time if they are under state pension age?

Read the whole thing here Sheltered Housing duped by Freud LHA maxima letter?