Direct pressure
Published 12 January 2010
The local housing allowance is nearly always sent directly to tenants – even when they want it paid to their landlord. For vulnerable people, this pressure to manage their finances can be too great. Rob Stares reports
The local housing allowance (LHA), the government’s controversial replacement for housing benefit launched in April 2008, has had disastrous consequences for vulnerable people, according to charities monitoring its effects.
A study by Shelter has found that close to a third of tenants have fallen behind with their rent since moving on to LHA. Many of them are vulnerable people.
And landlords are now more reluctant to let to LHA claimants than they were to people on housing benefit. According to the National Landlords Association (NLA), 54 per cent of landlords who wouldn’t rent to tenants on the benefit said it was due to fears over rental arrears.
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