Welfare policy research @citizensadvice.bsky.social
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Housing costs support is one of the most common issues we help low-income households with at @citizensadvice.bsky.social
A big reason: private renters' UC housing support is frozen at rent levels from 2.5+yrs ago. And rents are up 16% since then.
New blog from me + @drsarahhadfield.bsky.social 🧵
We’re seeing living standards decline + financial resilience erode: we refer 1 in 4 people we help with low LHA to charitable support + food banks.
This needs to change. To stop rent eating bigger holes into people’s budgets, LHA / housing costs support must be permanently re-linked to real rents.
Households are also missing out on a lot of support, compared to if local housing allowance / LHA had increased as designed.
Those entitled to max support for 1 beds are missing out an average £100/month. That’s ~1/2 a month’s groceries for the single UC private renters we help with debt.
How a failure to uprate housing support is causing hardship for low-income renters
