A report released today by the Bevan Foundation reveals the complete lack of housing options for those at the bottom rung of Welsh society.
In February, Swansea had zero properties for rent that would be fully covered by housing benefits across the city.
Homes for all Cymru is a coalition that has called for benefit allowances to be increased to meet rising rents but some of their largest members stand firm against rent controls.
By Mark Redfern. Image by Veronika Merkova
A report released today shows that housing benefit claimants in need of new digs could only choose between 32 properties across the whole of Wales in the first two weeks of February, according to the Bevan Foundation.
None of the 556 properties advertised in Swansea during the period were able to be fully covered by housing benefit payments, with high rents effectively cutting off the poorest in society from being able to move into one of Wales’ largest cities, even with government support.
This horrifying lack of housing support for those who need it most is in large part due to a freeze on the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which has made claimants ineligible for the vast majority of rents in the midst of the cost of living crisis.
One of the report’s authors, Dr Steffan Evans, said in response to the revelations: “The latest findings make for extremely worrying reading.”
“With so few properties available on the market at LHA levels many low-income tenants have little choice: move into a property that is unaffordable and risk financial hardship, move into a poor quality home, or become homeless.”
The LHA is designed to provide people with enough support through the benefits system to afford the cheapest 30% of housing in an area, adjusted for household composition. With LHA having been frozen since 2020, however, the report found that this is far from the case.
New research undertaken by the Bevan Foundation has found that only 1.2 per cent of properties that were advertised for rent between 3 February and 17 February were available at or below LHA rates.
In total there were only 32 properties advertised on the market that were fully covered by LHA rates, with no properties at all being on the market at LHA rates in 16 of Wales’ 22 local authorities.
Members and supporters of the Homes for all Cymru coalition, including charities Shelter Cymru and Disability Wales, have called on the UK Government to end the freeze on the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) at its upcoming spring budget.
Ruth Power, CEO of Shelter Cymru and Chair of Homes for all Cymru, said: “The inadequacy of LHA is pushing people into poverty and keeping people homeless. It is nigh on impossible to find somewhere affordable to live if you are a private renter who is reliant on LHA.”
“At Shelter Cymru we are being contacted daily by people at their wits’ end, who are being forced into homelessness because they cannot find anywhere they can afford. In the midst of a cost of living crisis, the UK Government must listen to the growing call to unfreeze LHA.”
Whilst increasing the LHA improves access to housing options for everyday people, it makes little material difference to landlords and those protecting their interests, maintaining the landlord’s chokehold on our cities.
The high rents they charge for tenancies won’t be curbed by an increase to the LHA and will enable them to make further hikes in the future. But, as a short-term measure, stretching housing benefit payments to fit rising rents would help ease pressure on broke tenants.
In addition, Homes for all Cymru counts the National Residential Landlords Association among their members, meaning straightforward proposals for change like rent controls, which could lower rents for all, are likely to be opposed by the group.
Chair of the Wales branch of NRLA and Cardiff housing magnate Douglas Haig was recorded speaking his true feelings on upcoming Welsh Government housing policies late last year.
Speaking at a landlord convention in the capital, he showed concern for the spectre of rent controls haunting Wales: “It preserves cheap rents for an elite class of people, and then excludes everybody else… we are fighting back very hard on it.”
Among those who welcome the campaign for increasing LHA is Propertymark, an organisation that represents those in the lettings industry.
Their Head of Policy and Campaigns, Timothy Douglas, said: “Propertymark supports the Homes for All Cymru campaign to increase housing options for people on low wages and those on benefits by ending the freeze on Local Housing Allowance rates and uplifting this to the 30th percentile at the very least.”
However Propertymark only supports housing reform within tight limits. In response to London Mayor Sadiq Khan proposing rent controls in the city to win reelection in 2021 the org voiced their strong disapproval.
Douglas said in response: “Rent controls are not the answer when seeking ways to stand up for renters in London. Increasing the supply of properties, rather than capping rents will ensure rents fall and landlords stay in the market.”
The Bevan Foundation is one of Wales’ most influential thinktanks and focuses on improving the lives of the poorest in Welsh society. The report is part of a broader project of work in collaboration between the Bevan Foundation and Lloyds Bank Foundation.
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