Not fit for purpose

H omeowners struggling to pay the mortgage – and tenants who have been renting properties for years – are being threatened with repossession after losing their jobs.

A year into the local housing allowance (LHA) scheme running nationally, there’s a growing consensus that the scheme isn’t working well for tenants and private sector landlords.

More than four million people receive housing benefit – about £4.5 billion of the £15.7 billion the government spent on housing benefit in 2007/08 was in the private rented sector.

The government continues to exclaim that LHA is a success. Yet those organisations that work with the most affected people – tenants and landlords – continually hear how problematic LHA has become.