Major housing bodies sign letter to Truss demanding urgent support for tenants facing crippling bills
The social housing sector has called on the new prime minister to provide urgent support to help low-income households facing soaring energy bills amid the cost of living crisis.
In a letter to Liz Truss, organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), more than 20 bodies across the sector have outlined several actions that she should take, including restoring Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to at least the 30th percentile and preventing energy companies from forcing prepayment meters on people.
The sector bodies, including housing associations, charities and council and ALMO representatives, wrote to express their “rapidly escalating concern” about the impact that rising living costs are having on “both residents and housing providers”.
They said ahead of the energy cap rise, people were already facing the “impossible decision of whether to eat or to heat their homes”.
“The rise removes this choice for some, living in increasingly desperate situations in cold and damp properties (with resulting health issues) or, in extreme cases, becoming homeless,” the letter said.
The letter outlined some of the work social landlords are doing for residents, such as giving advice on reducing energy consumption and providing fuel vouchers, but it said extra urgent support is needed to “meet the scale of the challenge”.
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The sector has asked that LHA rates be restored to at least the 30th percentile and start increasing annually again. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) uses LHA rates to calculate how much Universal Credit or housing benefit a tenant can get to pay their rent.
Before being frozen in 2016, LHA rates covered the cheapest 30% of rents in the local area. In April, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government restored LHA rates to the cheapest 30th percentile, but they have been frozen since then and have not kept pace with inflation.
The letter also called on government to bring forward the planned benefit increases from next April to this October, to limit deduction from Universal credit for prior overpayments or sanctions, and to remove the benefit cap and two-child limit.
The sector has asked the government to commit to giving additional funding for energy-efficiency measures in homes.
Gavin Smart, chief executive of the CIH, said the cost of living crisis is “being felt in every sector throughout the UK” and that “without urgent government intervention, it will create an unprecedented housing crisis”.
He added: “To the best of their ability housing providers will work with tenants who fall into arrears, however there is a limit to what they can do.
“The government has shown how it can respond when needed, providing extensive support during the COVID pandemic.”
Letter signatory Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said people are being “pushed closer to the cliff edge” every day, with more and more people asking for support from the homelessness charity because their housing benefit is falling “far short of real rent prices”.
“Energy bills are extortionate, the cost of living seems to be increasing every day, and rents are rocketing to eye-watering levels. Our research showed that these three combined costs are already exceeding the poorest households’ incomes by a third,” he added.
Mr Downie stated that “countless more people” are going to be forced into homelessness if action is not taken by the government.
It is understood that Ms Truss is preparing a package to help the public and businesses with energy bills and potentially introducing a lower energy cap.
The three priorities she set out in her first speech as prime minister were “delivering on the economy, on energy and on the NHS”. She promised to “take action this week” to deal with energy bills and “secure our future supply”.
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