Petition The Government To Reverse Their Decision On Housing Benefit

A new petition has taken off on Facebook to call on the government to think again about proposed changes to housing benefit (HB) in the coming years.

As we reported last week, the Government has outlined plans to extend Local Housing Allowance to social landlords. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is the method by which local authorities identify how much housing benefit a claimant is entitled to.

From April 2016 all new and 2018 all current social tenants will only receive private sector rates for housing benefit. This will have a massive impact, especially for those who are single, under-35, with no children. These changes could mean that they will be evicted and become homeless.

At the moment supported housing providers are excluded from LHA because of the extra level of care they deliver to the most vulnerable tenants. However, if the rate is dropped to that of private landlords many projects will be forced to close.

If you think this is unfair and will harm not only those tenants that could be evicted, but the projects themselves and, therefore, the wider society, have your say.

To find out more, click here.