Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to tackle the challenges presented by areas of very high housing costs for people in housing poverty.

The Government understands that people are concerned about pressure on household budgets and is taking action to help. The Chancellor announced in February a package of support to help households with rising energy bills, worth £9.1 billion in 2022-23.

Individuals who are unable to afford their rental payments may be eligible for a range of support through the Universal Credit system. In April 2020, the Government boosted investment in the Local Housing Allowance by nearly £1 billion, providing 1.5 million claimants with around £600 more housing support in 2020/21 than they would otherwise have received. We maintained LHA rates at their increased levels in 2021/22 and rates will remain at those levels for 2022/23, so that everyone who benefitted from the increase will continue to do so.

Whilst three quarters of private renters find no difficulties in keeping up with their rent, we understand that affordability may be an issue for some and that they may require additional support. Discretionary Housing Payments are available to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011, the Government has provided almost £1.5 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities. From April, the Government is also providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials through the Household Support Fund. This brings the total funding for this support to £1 billion.

For people living in social rented homes there are caps on maximum rent increases, under the social housing rent settlement that came into force in April 2020. This aims to strike a fair balance between the interests of existing social housing tenants, the interests of taxpayers, the need to build more homes and the importance of ensuring that providers have sufficient income with which to manage and maintain their properties.

For social renting tenants receiving Housing Benefit the maximum amount of Housing Benefit payable reflects the actual rent charged, subject to the removal of the spare room subsidy and the total benefit cap.