Local Housing Allowance: Social Rented Housing

(asked on 7th October 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the forthcoming change to limit housing benefit to the level of Local Housing Allowance on old age pensioners living in social housing properties with two or more bedrooms.


Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 17th October 2016

This policy does not come into effect until April 2018. It will only apply to people who have taken out or renewed a tenancy on or after 1st April 2016; and their rent is higher than the appropriate Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate. For general needs accommodation social rents are generally lower than the LHA rates.

We have increased funding for Discretionary Housing Payments by £70million, to help those who are vulnerable to mitigate the impact. In total we have provided DHP funding of £870 million over the next five years to help people adapt to the new reforms announced in the Autumn Statement and Summer Budget 2015.

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