Families on housing benefit in Lincoln are being forced to find £55 a
month from other sources to afford rent on even a cheaper-than-average
two-bed home.

Analysis of official figures by the Reach Data Unit has revealed the
full impact of an effective benefit freeze brought in by the current
government in 2016.

It means the amount people receive in housing benefit has fallen
behind soaring prices in the private rented sector.

Housing campaigners called the findings “shocking” and called for the
government to reinstate a link between benefits and rental costs.


The amount people who are unemployed or on low incomes can claim for a
private-sector house or flat is set by something called the “local
housing allowance”, or LHA.

It has traditionally been based on prices in the local rental market -
and, specifically, the amount it would cost to rent a home on the
“30th percentile”.


In other words - if there were 100 homes available to rent in an area,
LHA would be aligned with the 30th cheapest.

That should give people on housing benefit access to roughly the cheapest third of homes in the local area.


The government decided to break the link between prices and benefit
levels in April 2016.


As a result, someone in Lincoln claiming for a two-bed home will be
entitled to £100.22 a week to help them with accommodation in 2019-20.


In 2016-17 they would have got precisely the same.

At the same time, official figures from the Valuation Office show the
price of a two-bed property on the 30th percentile in Lincoln has
risen from £103.56 a week in October 2015 to £112.77 a week in October
2018.


That means the gap between the LHA in Lincoln and the rent for a
cheaper-than-average home is £12.55 a week, or £54.53 a month.

Before the freeze came in, the gap was £14.51 a month.

Matt Downie, director of policy and external affairs at Crisis, said:
“These figures are a shocking illustration of the growing gulf between
private rents and housing benefit.
“Across the country thousands on the lowest incomes are struggling to
keep up with rents - forced to make desperate choices between paying
the bills and feeding or clothing their families.
“Some are able to get by, many are forced into homelessness and local
authorities are spending close to £1bn on temporary accommodation each
year as a result.
“This cannot be allowed to continue. Last week the Government pledged
£19.5 million to help families and individuals facing homelessness to
secure private rented accommodation, which is a positive step, but it
doesn’t go far enough.

“The Government can make renting affordable for everyone, but only by
unfreezing LHA and bringing it in line with 30 per cent of market rates.”


Rising private rent prices have been identified as a major cause of
rising homelessness across the UK.
The 2018 annual report by housing charity Shelter estimated there were
320,000 homeless people in Britain - including both rough sleepers and
those in temporary accommodation.
That was up by 13,000 on the previous year and means 1 in 200 people,
nationally, are homeless.
Research by the National Audit Office found nearly a third of people
who became homeless did so because a shorthold tenancy had ended, and
they had nowhere else to go.