Young people leaving care and domestic abuse survivors will now
have better access to social housing, as the government delivers
on its promise to remove a local connection requirement for these
groups.
New changes, which come into force next month, will exempt them
from rules that restrict access to social housing for those that
do not have a connection to the local area – making sure the most
vulnerable in society can access the housing support they
need.
This change applies to all councils in England, nearly 90% of
which currently use local connection criteria to determine who
qualifies for social housing. It follows reforms last year to
remove barriers for all former UK Armed Forces Veterans, as
pledged by the Prime Minister.
Under the new rules, care leavers under the age of 25 and
domestic abuse survivors will no longer be unfairly penalised for
not having a local connection; recognising the unique challenges
they can face, such as transitioning out of care or fleeing an
unsafe home to seek safety.
It comes as the government committed £39 billion for a new
ten-year Affordable Homes Programme, supporting the Plan for
Change to build 1.5 million homes and tackle housing waiting
lists for families and young people across the country.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, said:
“It breaks my heart to hear countless stories of people leaving
the care system or fleeing an abusive relationship and not having
a place they can truly call home. We're rewriting the rules
to help get them a roof over their heads and the security they
deserve.
“Our changes will make sure these vulnerable groups do not face
unfair barriers to safe and secure housing. This is backed by our
commitment to secure the biggest boost to social and affordable
housing in a generation, and through our Plan for Change we are
going further and faster to make this a reality.”
Last year the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to local councils
reminding them of their obligations to prioritise vulnerable
groups for social housing. Government guidance will be updated to
reflect these changes.
Additional support includes:
- £160 million for councils to help provide safe accommodation
and support for domestic abuse survivors and meet their statutory
duty to help victims and their children when they need it the
most – increased by £30 million this year.
- New legislation proposed to ensure young care leavers in
scope of the council's corporate parenting duty have access to
housing and cannot be considered ‘intentionally homeless'.
- An £800 million top-up for the current Affordable Homes
Programme to ramp up the delivery of new social homes.
- Proposed Right to Buy reforms to protect council housing
stock and a new ten-year social rent settlement to give the
sector the certainty it needs to build more social homes.
CEO of Become, Katharine Sacks-Jones said:
“We welcome these new regulations that will allow more care
leavers to access social housing where they are. Too many
children in care are moved away from the people and places that
matter to them and then made to move back to their local
authority area once they turn 18 to access social housing
support.
“Removing the local connection test will prevent forced moves,
could help reduce homelessness and give care leavers a more
positive start to adulthood.”
Director of Policy and Prevention at Centrepoint, Balbir
Kaur Chatrik said:
“Removing this barrier will reduce homelessness and rough
sleeping amongst care leavers and help them to thrive.
“Care leavers are often extremely vulnerable young people and
lack the support networks that many of us take for granted.
Despite this they often find it a real struggle to access the
stable housing they need to thrive because they lack a local
connection. The government's change will hopefully stop this
practice and ensure young people can get the stable and
affordable homes they deserve.
“It's also an important step towards ending youth homelessness
and protecting the most vulnerable. Taken together with funding
for prevention and housebuilding, this brings us a bit
closer over the short- and long-term towards ensuring young
people are getting the support they need.”
Further information
The government will publish a written ministerial statement today
setting out new changes for young care leavers and domestic abuse
survivors. The regulations will come into force on Thursday 10
July.
On 24 September, the Prime Minister set out his ambition to
improve access to social housing for former UK Armed Forces
Veterans, young care leavers and victims of domestic
abuse.
While the changes remove a specific barrier for these vulnerable
groups, the allocation of social housing is still at the
discretion of the local housing authority.
