Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her
Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect
on levels of homelessness of the proposal to withdraw Housing
Benefit from 18 to 21 year olds. Lord Kennedy of Southwark
(Lab)...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have
made of the effect on levels of homelessness of the
proposal to withdraw Housing Benefit from 18 to 21 year
olds.
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My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my
name on the Order Paper. In doing so, I refer noble Lords
to my entry in the Register of Lords’ Interests.
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My Lords, from 1 April, automatic entitlement to housing
costs in universal credit will be removed for some 18 to
21 year-olds. This policy removes a perverse incentive
for young adults to leave the family home and pass the
cost on to the taxpayer. There is a comprehensive set of
exemptions in place for the most vulnerable.
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Last week, the Government made the announcement about the
withdrawal of housing benefit from 18 to 21 year-olds. On
the previous Friday in this Chamber, they supported the
Homelessness Reduction Bill and said that they had
identified money for that purpose. Does the noble Lord
not see the absurdity and hypocrisy of those two
decisions? Does he agree with the comments of the Member
for Enfield Southgate in the other place, who described
the decision to withdraw these benefits from 18 to 21
year-olds as “catastrophic”?
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My Lords, I simply do not accept the point that the noble
Lord makes. Yes, we supported that Bill and will support
it again tomorrow, when I think it will have its
Committee stage in this House. We will continue to do so
and we will continue to protect the most vulnerable in
relation to housing. But we also wish to make sure that
young people do not slip into a life on benefits. That is
what this change is about.
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My Lords, currently, 19,000 18 to 20 year-olds on
jobseeker’s allowance claim housing benefit. They are
simply unable to live at home for a variety of reasons,
including physical and sexual abuse. If housing benefit
is withdrawn, how does the Minister think that these
young people will be able to find jobs if they are living
on the streets?
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My Lords, not one of the individuals on jobseeker’s
allowance to whom the noble Baroness referred will be
affected. As I made clear in my Answer, this matter
relates to those on universal credit. As we also made
clear in another place, and I will make clear now, there
is a considerable number of exemptions. I think that some
25 are listed in the regulations—I can go through them if
the noble Baroness wishes me to do so—which offer
protection for those who need it.
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My Lords, given the massive increase that we have seen in
the number of young homeless people on our streets, how
will this policy help that situation?
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My Lords, this policy will help that situation by
encouraging young people to stay at home with their
families rather than establishing themselves in a life on
benefit. As we made clear, for those who need help,
protections are in place. It is the noble Lord and those
who wish to get rid of measures such as this who would
condemn individuals to a life on benefit and cause far
greater problems than we are addressing with this
measure.
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My Lords, does my noble friend agree that one of the
beauties of housing benefit is that it is very flexible
and can be focused where it is needed, and that it is the
most efficient way of helping people who need affordable
housing?
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My Lords, my noble friend is correct in relation to
housing benefit. It is right therefore to withdraw it for
those 18 to 21 year-olds on universal credit who can stay
at home.
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Does the Minister accept that some young people in this
age bracket have genuine reasons for wanting to live
somewhere else? They might have no family or a
dysfunctional family, or they might have to move to take
up an apprenticeship or another important opportunity.
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My Lords, I fully accept the noble Lord’s point. That is
why he will find a list in the regulations—I do not want
to delay the House by reading it out in full—of some 25
different exemptions for 18 to 21 year-olds. That will be
operated in the most sympathetic manner, and I do not
think that anyone with a genuine reason to leave home is
likely to suffer at all. I am more than happy to show the
list to the noble Lord and to others—but reading it out
in full would waste the House’s time.
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My Lords, there are so many reasons why young people
choose not to live at home, but remarkably few of them
do. If somebody is out there on their own aged 18,
something else is going on. The Minister can give all the
lists he wants, but people out there who have suffered
from repeated bad decisions when they have applied for
disability benefit or all kinds of other benefits will
not trust them. Is it not the case that all the homeless
charities have pointed out that the proposal is likely to
increase homelessness? Even though there are young people
who want to go out and rent independently, the National
Landlords Association said:
“Never mind the nuances, all landlords will hear is that
18-21 year olds are no longer entitled to housing benefit
… they just won’t consider them as a tenant”.
Have the Government thought about that?
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Of course the Government have thought about it. That is
why we are bringing forward this measure and why we will
be working with stakeholders such as the National
Landlords Association and others to develop appropriate
engagement for landlords to make them understand how the
new rules will operate. As I said, protections have been
built into this that mean that no one who has to move
away from home will suffer. We think it is right that
there should not be a perverse incentive that encourages
people to move away from home and live on benefits at the
expense of the taxpayer.
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