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Sheltered housing developments ‘shelved due to benefit cuts’
New House of Commons library briefing:
This House of Commons Library briefing paper explains the impact of the Government’s policy of requiring rent reductions, and also the application of Local Housing Allowance caps, on the supported housing sector. The sector has argued that the measures threaten its viability. A one-year delay in implementation, pending the outcome of an evidence review, has been secured.
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06080
From the Guardian, new report from Women’s Aid - A survey of Women’s Aid-affiliated refuges shows that 67% of those operating in England would be forced to close if they are not exempted from the reform, while 87% would be forced to scale down the support they give to families.
Housing benefit cap may force 67% of women’s refuges to close – report
have they actually done any legislation to put through these changes yet and i have missed it? it wasnt in the 2016 act was it?
No legislation yet. Doesn’t need primary legislation as both s11 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and s130 of the SS Conts & Bens Act 1992 are sufficiently wide and general to allow regulations to fix the UC housing element and the HB eligible rent respectively by reference to LHA - as they clearly must be in order to support the way private tenants’ HB/UC is currently calculated.
I would guess there will be draft regs out for consultation by about this time next year. I suppose the government is hoping that by then it will a better idea what it wants to do about supported accommodation and maybe launch both changes together, but personally I don’t think there is time to introduce a new supported accommodation funding regime by April 2018 and I predict that supported accommodation will soldier on under the current rules for at least another year.
Jeremy Corbyn asked yesterday in prime minister’s questions - ‘Does the Prime Minister recognise that the women in those refuges are very vulnerable and closure of those refuges would be devastating for them—very dangerous for the most vulnerable people in our society? Will she take action to make sure that the cap does not apply to Women’s Aid refuges in any part of Britain?’
Theresa May responded - ‘... That is why we are working on exempting refuges from the cap’.
Not definitive but possibly hopeful?
They are now saying that they want refuges to be exempt…...
Whilst I don’t doubt the sincerity or the effort, I am forced to conclude, that the delay in supported housing review shows…. there will be no agreed solution.
One group believes in supported housing as a prevention… as a spend to save.
A second group believes that in “a time of austerity” that cutting prevention is a softer cut than further cuts to stat residential or health/care services.
Written statement today from the Work and Pensions Secretary:
We have heard the concerns regarding the application of the Local Housing Allowance rates to social rents from 2018. So I can announce today that we will be deferring the application of this policy for supported housing until 2019/20.
Hi all
Am I being unduly concerned by the paragraph….....
‘It is our intention that from 2019/20 core rent and service charges will be funded through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit up to the level of the applicable LHA rate. This will apply to all those living in supported accommodation from this date. I can also confirm that the Shared Accommodation Rate will not apply to people living in the supported housing sector, in recognition of the particular challenges this would have placed upon them.’
.....and thinking this points to all people being restricted to LHA rate in 2019/20 rather than just new tenancies?!
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Ignore the above, reading far too much into it! Presumably you would need to apply to all supported in order to set funds for LAs or devolved govs rather than this applying across all tenancy types.
press release now too:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-funding-model-for-supported-accommodation
Hi all
Am I being unduly concerned by the paragraph….....
‘It is our intention that from 2019/20 core rent and service charges will be funded through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit up to the level of the applicable LHA rate. This will apply to all those living in supported accommodation from this date. I can also confirm that the Shared Accommodation Rate will not apply to people living in the supported housing sector, in recognition of the particular challenges this would have placed upon them.’
.....and thinking this points to all people being restricted to LHA rate in 2019/20 rather than just new tenancies?!
It is difficult to say…...
The way I read the press release was
“Supported housing, which supports some of the most vulnerable people from across the country, will continue to be exempt from the Local Housing Allowance cap until 2019. From then the new funding model will protect the sector from the cap with a top up of additional ring-fenced funding. The amount of top-up funding will be set on the basis of current projections of future need.”
That you are right, but then the “new funding model” will protect the sector….with a top-up of ring fenced funding…based on projections of future need.
The positive is that this is “ring fenced” ......
a deferring of the problem, the way i read it…...
Although Damian Green’s statement is quite long it is still just a taster but at least we can expect the promised full consultation quite quickly now.
The way I read it is:
- the review of supported accommodation funding will result in a new funding system by, they hope, 2019 but certainly not before
- meanwhile it’s as you were: supported accommodation in the social sector will not be subject to LHA before the new system is ready
- two very positive commitments have been made: the devolved money is ringfenced and the overall funding level will not be reduced
- I think the devolved funding regime will apply to all supported housing: regulated social sector and voluntary sector, pre- and post-2017 tenancies/licences
As I have said many times in this thread, it was always a mistake the conflate the social sector LHA and the supported accommodation review. At no stage did the government ever seriously intend to leave supported accommodation in the regulated social sector to survive on LHA. If there is uncertainty among providers and stalling of new schemes, the cause of that uncertainty is the supported accommodation review - social sector LHA is a red herring. I don’t think the government did a good enough job of explaining this, and the rapid succession of new ministers responsible for different bits of housing and benefit policy probably didn’t understand the difference between the two policies either to begin with.
There will be two main results of all this:
- assessing benefit cases will be a lot easier for whoever does it, whether that’s HB or DWP (the rationale for keeping the rent out of UC disappears now)
- even though the funding is the same overall, entitlement to it will no longer be demand-led: only commissioned providers will get the cash
The administrative simplicity of assessing benefit claims will be a big change. It is a mess at the moment. Take just one example of that accounts for thousands of hours of will-to-live-sapping HB officer time: intensive housing management or additional housing management: is it support, is it eligible for HB? Who cares anymore - if it needs doing the commissioning body will pay you to do it, whatever you want to call it. The artificial and very strained division between HB costs and support costs will no longer exist.
Who cares anymore - if it needs doing the commissioning body will pay you to do it, whatever you want to call it.
I am fairly sure it wont work like this. But who really knows?
The other key issue is that LA’s have to use their business rates from 2020 to fund all local services. When the direct funding inevitably stops what then?
Another much loved regulation the Temporary Accommodation Management fee (2011 LHA plus £40.00 inside London £60.00 outside the Metropolis…I suspect it will be gone before I finally understand the weighting….) is due to go April 2017….....Yes its another one heading in the direction of a grant (rinfenced?)to the LA, along with local welfare and supported housing…...