News17.10.23by Alex DanielRules that stop people in rent arrears from bidding for social housing should be abolished, according to a new report, as part of proposals to ease the impact of housing-related debt on familiesPicture: AlamySharelinesRules that stop people in rent arrears from bidding for social housing should be abolished, according to a new APPG report #UKhousing A new report has highlighted how households in temporary housing because of outstanding arrears are classed as lower priority or even ineligible to bid for social homes by some local authorities.
Researchers found that this leads to a “debt trap”, which leaves people stuck in temporary accommodation.
The research by King’s College London (KCL) and Oxford Brookes University is being launched today by the All-Party Parliamentary Group of MPs on Households in Temporary Accommodation.
An example from the report highlights how Oldham Council classes housing-related debt of £1,000 as enough to disqualify people from bidding for permanent social homes. Debts of £500 were enough to put applicants in the “low priority” category. Researchers called for thresholds like these, which are mirrored across many UK local authorities, to be scrapped.
The report added that housing debt disproportionately impacts women, whose entry into homelessness is often the result of domestic abuse.
Inside Housing reported last week how English councils’ spending on temporary accommodation rose by 9% last year to hit £1.7bn, the latest government data shows.
That figure follows an earlier release which found that the number of people in temporary accommodation was at a record high.
The number of children in this situation is also at the highest level since records began in 2004, with 131,370 children in temporary accommodation as of the end of March.
In addition, a nationwide survey earlier this year found that four in five council landlords are seeing significant rises in rent arrears.
One of the researchers, Dr Mel Nowicki from Oxford Brookes University, said: “While private debts are generally small and negligible in pure financial terms, our research shows the huge and disproportionate negative impact they are having on families’ lives and futures.” Other proposals included increasing the quality of social housing to ease tenants’ reliance on loans to make temporary and permanent accommodation.
A mother of two in Greater Manchester called Jade, who was interviewed by researchers, said she was moved into temporary housing with “no bedding, no pillows… there was absolutely nothing in it at all. I was just literally given keys.”
The report called for an increase to Universal Credit (UC) and the Local Housing Allowance, saying that neither “adequately cover the costs of living and housing, therefore contributing to families’ struggles to meet the shortfalls”.
Similarly, it said UC payments should not be linked to debt repayment deductions so as to give families “more ability to tackle their debts in a way that better takes into account their personal circumstances and day-to-day needs”.
Professor Katherine Brickell, lead researcher on the study at KCL, said: “The research clearly shows how debt is not only causing, lengthening, but also outliving family homelessness. More action is needed on the punitive impacts of debt on women’s and children’s lives.”
“For England’s lowest-income and most financially vulnerable, debt has become a necessity of survival, rather than choice.”
Inside Housing has approached the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Oldham Council for comment.
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