This is a very serious issue for the future viability of supported housing.

Placeshapers has warned that the homes of 440,000 vulnerable people could be at risk because of the 1% cut to social rent and the capping of housing benefit at Local Housing Allowance levels. They represent a threat to the financial viability of specialist housing for the elderly, dementia care schemes, women fleeing domestic violence and people with mental health issues, the network claims.

Reporting In Inside Housing from their research suggests:

“Rents in specialist housing provide the income to cover the support and care that goes alongside providing a home and such charges are “very often” covered by housing benefit for people who are unable to work. Placeshapers has estimated housing associations provide specialist supported housing for around 132,000 vulnerable people and a further 312,000 homes for older people.

The network surveyed six supported housing providers who provide housing to 3,343 people. The survey suggested an income loss from 2018 averaging £56 per home per week as a result of the LHA cap. This came to an annual loss of £9.8m.

The network claims if this was replicated across the sector the total loss would be nearly £400m for the funding of supported housing schemes and there would be “further potentially huge losses” if homes for older people were also included.

These losses would lead to supported housing service closures on a “massive and unprecedented scale”.

The network said the government’s suggestion that local authority discretionary housing payments can up any shortfall in income “will simply not work and no housing association can plan with certainty on the basis of support that is short term, discretionary and already overstretched”.

 

The National Housing Federation is also calling for an amendment to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill to exempt supported housing from the 1% annual social housing rent.

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued the following statment in response to the research. A spokesperson said: “Overall we have given councils £500m of funding to provide discretionary payments to those that need them, with a further £800m to be provided over the course of this Parliament. “In all our welfare reforms we have demonstrated a clear commitment to supporting vulnerable people.” “