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Sector calls on government to delay supported housing changes
Housing figures have called on the new government to put back controversial plans to change the funding of supported housing, due to the current political hiatus.
Housing association leaders and trade bodies said ministers should put a halt to proposals to cap supported housing benefit payments at the level of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA).
The government had planned to introduce this controversial cap from April 2019, with local authorities to provide top-ups for costs above the LHA rates through devolved ringfenced funding.
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But with political uncertainty due to last week’s election, which saw the Conservative Party lose its outright majority in the House of Commons, senior industry figures have called for the April 2019 deadline to be abandoned, and for fresh work to be carried out to find a better solution for supported living rents.
A Green Paper giving more details of the controversial policy was expected in “late spring” but has yet to materialise, and there is likely to be as little as a month between the Queen’s Speech and parliament’s summer recess.
Angela Lockwood, chief executive of Teesside-based housing association North Star, told Inside Housing: “It is critical that there is an announcement within the next five weeks.
“I think if the government just said, ‘this isn’t working, we have certain other priorities at the moment so we will abandon the 2019 deadline to have more time to think through an alternative’, then we would work hard with them to make that work.”
Inside Housing has previously reported that developments have been put on hold because of uncertainty over funding.
A joint report by the Communities and Local Government Committee and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Committee last month found that the LHA rates – used for the private rented sector – were an “inappropriate starting point” for a new funding model”.
Sinead Butters, chief executive of Aspire, which provides homes in Staffordshire and Cheshire, said: “There is a hiatus and there could be further delays in implementing the LHA cap. It would give them space to get it right; they might have to push it back to 2020.”
Bruce Moore, chief executive of Housing & Care 21, added: “The 2019 date is not achievable. This might be an opportunity for them to take more time.”
Sue Ramsden, policy lead at the National Housing Federation, said: “We would like to see the implementation timetable put back from 2019… Let’s take our time and get it right.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “We have reviewed the consultation responses and will set out the next steps soon.”
