The Chancellor has today (Wednesday 26th November) announced
a number of welcome measures to reduce
poverty as part of the Budget,
including the removal of the two-child benefit
cap.
Despite this positive focus, today's lack of
investment in housing benefit means thousands
of low-income households will be unable
to afford their rents and be pushed into
homelessness. Crisis' research with
Zoopla shows that just 2.4% of
properties listed in England are affordable
on Local Housing Allowance – and just 1% in Wales.
With new research from Crisis showing that almost 300,000
households are experiencing the worst forms of homelessness in
England alone, the charity is calling for the
UK government to urgently reconsider the ongoing freeze on
housing benefit ahead of the publication of their
strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness.
Francesca Albanese, Director of Policy and Social Change
at Crisis, said: “Families will be breathing a sigh
of relief to hear the Chancellor commit
to scrapping the two-child benefit limit. This is
hugely welcome and will help struggling parents with the rising
cost of day-to-day living.
“What this Budget doesn't do, however, is help hundreds
of thousands of households across Great Britain who are homeless
or at risk. The choice to keep housing benefit frozen, and
wildly out-of-step with the true cost of rents, will
directly lead to a rise in homelessness and
pile additional pressure on councils whose combined
temporary accommodation bill in England alone is nearly £3bn
a year.
“Without restoring housing benefit, many low-income
households will remain trapped in poverty. As they finalise
their strategy to tackle homelessness, the Westminster government
must urgently reconsider this decision as it flies in the face of
their manifesto commitment to get the country back
on track to ending homelessness.”
