Government must raise housing benefit as crisis deepens for private renters

This meant the cheapest 30% of rents in a local area would be covered by housing benefits (subject to implementation of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) capi and the benefit cap). [...] In other words, the effective rate of local housing allowance was, on average, at just the 18th percentile of local rents, compared to the 30th percentile of rents in April 2020 and the 50th percentile prior to 2011. [...] The effective Local Housing Allowance rate for private renters is well below the 30th percentile of local rents in many parts of the country Source: JRF analysis of VOA shadow list of rents 2023 and Local Housing Allowance rates 2023/24 As rents rise, support remains frozen and the need for support remains, inevitably the proportions of families for whom housing support is not covering rent will i. [...] While the relinking of local housing allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local rents saw the share of families on Universal Credit facing shortfalls between rents and housing support fall from two thirds to half, the freeze in support has seen the share of families facing shortfalls climb again, reaching 58% by September 2022. [...] We have compared the current Local Housing Allowance rate to the most recent distribution of local rents by bedroom size and area to determine what the effective Local Housing Allowance rate is.