Ahead of publication of the government's plans for the future
funding of supported housing, the Prime Minister has announced that
the government has dropped plans to cap housing benefit in the
social housing sector at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates.
Following earlier consultation on the future funding
model for supported housing the Department for Communities &
Local Government (DCLG) have announced that the future funding model for supported housing will be
revealed next Tuesday, 31 October.
However, in answer to a question at Prime Minister's Question
Time in Parliament, Theresa May said: "We will not apply the Local
Housing Allowance cap to supported housing - indeed we will not be
implementing it in the wider social housing sector, and the full
details will be made available when we publish our response to the
consultation".
Plans to cap housing benefit entitlement to LHA rates were first
announced by then Chancellor George Osborne in the 2015 Autumn Statement.
John Bibby, ARCH Chief Executive comments:
Coming on top of the proposals for a new social rent policy
limiting rent increases to CPI+1%, the announcement by the Prime
Minister that the government intend to drop proposals to cap
housing benefit entitlement at the Local Housing Allowance rates
will come as welcome news to both social landlords and their
tenants. We will of course need to see the full detail of what this
announcement means when the government's proposals are published on
the 31 October but it is another indication that this government is
listening to the concerns of the sector.
Watch out for more details in the next ARCH Bulletin.