Opposition Day — Application of Housing Benefit Cuts to Supported Housing — 27 Jan 2016 at 15:50

The majority of MPs voted in favour of planned housing benefit cuts applying to those in supported housing.

The motion rejected in this vote was:

• That this House
• believes that the Government’s planned cuts to housing benefit support for vulnerable people in specialist housing, including the elderly and people who are homeless, disabled or fleeing domestic violence, risk leading to the widespread closure of this accommodation;
• notes the concern from charities, housing associations, councils and others across the country about the severe effect of these cuts;
• further notes that supported housing has already suffered as a result of Government spending cuts and policy decisions;
• notes that the planned changes will apply to all new tenancies from April 2016;
• notes the clear evidence that the Government’s proposal to mitigate these cuts with discretionary housing payments will not work; and
• calls on the Government to urgently exempt supported housing from these housing benefit cuts and to consult fully with supported housing providers to safeguard this essential accommodation.

The housing benefit cuts referred to appear, according to the debate, to be the Autumn 2015 spending review announcement to:

• cap the amount of rent that Housing Benefit will cover in the social sector to the relevant Local Housing Allowance, which is the rate paid to private renters on Housing Benefit.

and the Housing Benefit changes in the 2015 summer budget which included:

• Ending automatic entitlement to Housing Benefit for out-of-work 18-21 year olds
• Reducing social sector rents by 1% each year for 4 years from 2016-17
• Limiting backdating awards to 4 weeks
• Changing Mortgage Interest support from a welfare payment to loan

Debate in Parliament | Source |