Report: Cover the Cost - preventing homelessness for renters in the cost of living crisis

New Shelter report which reveals how inadequate housing benefit is failing to protect renters from homelessness in the cost of living crisis.

The housing emergency in England has left hundreds of thousands struggling to afford to keep a roofover their heads. We now face a perfect storm of spiralling rents and out of control bills which threatens to push many towards the brink of homelessness.  

Private renters are disproportionately exposed to the cost of living crisis.New research by Shelter1 has found that almost a third (32%) of private renters are spending half their monthly household income or more on their monthly rent. Nearly one in seven (13%) private renters have seen their rent increase in the last month, of whom almost a quarter (24%) have seen it increase by more than £100 a month 

Private renters are also the most likely tenure to already be in fuel poverty. But low-income renters are finding that they’re falling short on their rent – to the tune of £1,812 a year, because the safety net is failing them. 

Renters are struggling because the amount they can claim in housing benefits (by which we mean legacy housing benefit or universal credit housing allowance)has been frozen since March 2020 - while rents have shot up by over 5% in England and in some areas by more than 8%. Newly listed rents have gone up even more, pushing new homes further out of reach. Thelocal housing allowance (LHA) freeze is leaving people with massive shortfalls each month.  

As this report shows, the freeze has left low-income private renters in an incredibly precarious position. 54% of private renters claiming housing benefit have to make up a shortfall to cover their rent, with an average shortfall of £151 a month.  

Low-income private renters are simply being squeezed out of the private rental market and pushed towards homelessness. Many may end up in the expensive, largely unregulated temporary accommodation market–where councils must procure accommodation to offer under homelessness duties. 

The consequences for renters are severe – in Shelter hubs up and down the country, our teams are working with people who are struggling right now because their housing benefit simply isn’t enough to afford a home in their local areas.

To stem the tide now we must see urgent action by the government to restore the housing benefit safety net.