Urgent action needed to avoid autumn cliff-edge of financial hardship

The Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru has called for the reinstatement of the £20-per-week Universal Credit uplift after the decision by the UK government to go ahead with the cut despite mounting financial pressures facing many households.

Concerns have also been raised around Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates intended to reflect private renters’ housing costs remaining misaligned with actual rents after a four-year freeze. This is despite notable rent increases and a lack of private rental accommodation in an already overcrowded market, where the threat of homelessness is greatest. This means that many private renters will struggle to make up the shortfall in housing benefit, adding further pressures to household expenditure in homes which have the least to spare.

On top of the cut to Universal Credit and the denial of adequate funding for help with housing costs, the challenges of delivering new social housing, decarbonising existing homes and providing housing-related support services without clear certainty on the funding available from the Welsh Government to support these activities could compound these issues further over the longer-term.

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Matt Dicks  |  national director, CIH Cymru

This is a deeply worrying time for many households across Wales, where the removal of the £20 uplift to Universal Credit, the closing of the furlough scheme at a time when many people’s jobs remain in a precarious or unstable position, the challenges of debt along with increasing living costs could all combine to create insurmountable challenges for households to meet without urgent support. Housing professionals working across social, affordable and private rented housing will be at the forefront in supporting tenants during this difficult period. To do that as effectively as possible we need to see a long-term funding commitment from the Welsh Government to both provide much-needed new homes, improve the quality and efficiency of existing homes and provide support and care services that so many people rely on to access and maintain a home. That must come alongside rapid action by the UK Government to ensure the £20 uplift to Universal Credit is reinstated along with a thorough evaluation of local housing allowance rates to ensure that housing costs are adequately reflected.