The ‘Bedroom Tax’ is a reduction in housing benefit for people living in social rented housing, who are deemed to be underoccupying their home. This change came in on 1st April this year, and Hackney Council estimates that 4190 households in Hackney are affected by this (out of a total of 44,000 households affected by welfare reforms in total).

Further information on the ‘Bedroom Tax’ and how it might affect you is available on Citizens Advice Adviceguide.

The Benefit Cap, and the shift to Universal Credit will come into effect later – the Benefit Cap from July to September and Universal Credit from October 2013.

If you need advice on how you will be affected and the options available, you can find details of where to get advice here.

Tony (24) sleeps most nights on the floor, squeezed between a bed and wardrobe, in the small room his friend rents in a shared house. His friend puts him up for now. Tony has a difficult relationship with his mother and cannot live with her. His belongings are spread across the rooms and houses of friends throughout east London. Tony is one of the many ‘hidden homeless’ young people in Hackney.

Like many of those who are homeless, Tony is on the Hackney housing waiting list, but is not considered a ‘priority’. His only option is to find shared accommodation in the private rented sector. Yet working part-time and earning just enough to avoid signing on at the JobCentre, Tony’s income is still too low to afford to rent his own room. ‘Sofa-surfing’ is his only real option. But it is not a choice. It is a precarious experience:

“You can stay with a friend, but after a while you know you’re treading on their toes. If something goes wrong I could be on the street tomorrow.”

Just one night away from sleeping on the street: that is the situation of most of the young people supported by Homelink, a project of the east London anti-poverty charity Quaker Social Action. Since 1994 Homelink has helped over 1,800 non-priority homeless people on benefits or low income into accommodation in the private rented sector. In 2011 we decided to focus on supporting 18-35 year olds in accessing private rented shared accommodation, as we realised that more and more young people like Tony were facing substantial housing problems. Homelink provides pre-tenancy support to its clients, helping them to search for decent property they can afford, and helping them get enough money for a deposit and to pay their rent in advance. We also stay with them for another 12 months to make sure each tenancy is a success.

Despite the hard work by Homelink, it has proven to be a real challenge to secure housing for the young people we help. Many landlords are reluctant to rent out property to housing benefit claimants. However, it is the government’s cap on housing benefit that shuts young people out of the housing market completely.

If you are aged between 18 and 35 and on low income, you are entitled to the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) – but this is less than full Housing Benefit and is the maximum for a room only in shared private rented housing. The SAR level is completely out of sync with the spiralling rents. In Hackney, people like Tony will get no more than £92.35 per week housing benefit for a private rented room, but when a room becomes available, the rent is usually at least £135 per week.

Even when trying to find a place in cheaper areas, Homelink clients are short of £40-50 per week because their housing benefit doesn’t cover their rent. You can’t live losing that amount of money each week when on benefits or a low income. Without help, how can our young people stay in education and commit to work if they don’t know where they will wake up each morning or stay at night?

The housing benefit shortfall means people remaining trapped, unemployed and their homelessness hidden. As Patricia (23), another Homelink client, describes the hopelessness of the situation:

“Becoming homeless can happen to anyone. I can stay with friends, but even if it’s your best mate it’s awkward. I have an education. I apply and apply for jobs but there don’t seem to be any opportunities.”

We know of 18 and 19 year-olds who are dropping out of college because they can’t juggle the demands of study with the daily stresses of not having a place to stay. We hear of young people who can’t find an affordable room to rent and decide to return to live with their parents and put up with the abuse when it is not safe to do so.

Hidden youth homelessness and its consequences appear to be growing problems. Between April and October 2012, Homelink received 60% more referrals than in the same period in 2011. We saw a significant increase of people younger than 25 years and more women turned to us for support – both these groups are especially vulnerable when homeless.

The government has proposed scrapping housing benefit for those aged under 25 because they can ‘go home’. This is a gross misrepresentation of the choice that many homeless young people have. Almost 75% of Homelink clients have nowhere to live because of relationship breakdown with their parent(s).

The number of young homeless people in Hackney continues to rise. But so does the price of accommodation. Young people haven’t got enough money or cannot claim sufficient housing benefit, and so our clients cannot rent a room or find the stability they need to get on with their lives and get ahead.

Stable housing is crucial for young people. Nearly all our clients who settle into their own rented room return to education, begin volunteering and find work. We recently helped both Tony and Patricia to secure a tenancy. Tony is now picking up more hours at work and looks likely to get a promotion. Patricia found a full-time job three weeks after moving into her own room. They are both positive about their future.

Both Tony and Patricia’s names have been changed but their experiences are real.

Marike van Harskamp
Homelink Manager
www.quakersocialaction.com/homelink

 

This morning we hit Mare Street in Hackney to talk to people about how they have been affected by changes in Housing Benefit. We had lots of people approach us with stories about their rent shortfalls and increasing monthly housing payments that they wanted us to hear. These responses have helped us to build a more detailed and personal picture of the reality of Housing Benefit changes in Hackney.

One woman told us that her weekly benefit shortfall on her rent has more than tripled from £5 per week to £18 and that this, combined with rising food prices, has caused her real financial difficulty. Another woman reported an even bigger increase in her weekly rent shortfall which had been raised from £7 per week to £30, over four times her previous payment.

We also spoke to a number of people who had not yet experienced changes to their benefits but were sincerely worried about their future financial situation. There was a real sense of unease and confusion about what the effects of changes in housing benefit would be.

The government has made cuts to the budget for welfare, which means that many benefits are being reduced. Housing Benefit is one of the benefits that is being affected and this means that people are receiving less money each month to pay for their accommodation.

The gap between housing benefit and rent is called a shortfall. The government is looking for people to make up the shortfall from their weekly budgets, or to contact their landlord to ask for a rent reduction.

In reality, many people are struggling to afford the shortfall and cannot convince their landlords to adjust the rent. Some people have to leave their homes to find somewhere cheaper, or find a property that is smaller.

For the people we talked to on Mare Street even small changes in Housing Benefit can have a big impact on their weekly budget, which is already stretched at the best of times. With unemployment at its highest level since 1995, there are many people in Hackney who simply do not have the means to pay for rising rent shortfalls. If you or anyone you know has experienced difficulty because of changes to Housing Benefit, please contact us at hackneycabcrowdmap@gmail.com or drop into the Mare Street Citizens Advice Bureau.

According to recent research by the Department for Work and Pensions, landlords are in large numbers saying that direct payments would help in agreeing to rent reductions, and that they are regularly experiencing problems with regular payments and rent arrears with the current system.

We’ve also heard comments from landlords about the many reasons for not renting to housing benefit tenants, such as difficulties with the mortgage provider or with buy-to-let insurance refusing to accept housing benefit tenants, as well as issues around the delivery of housing benefit payments.  Housing benefit is paid in arrears every 4 weeks, and so it is difficult to meet calendar monthly payments in advance as required for many private tenancies.

We’re interested in hearing from you if you are a tenant or a landlord experiencing difficulties with housing benefit changes – please add your comments below!

We had some final responses in, and have broken down the figures by property size.

It’s a shocking picture.

We did a snapshot survey of 1585 properties in total, advertised on Gumtree and Rightmove in Hackney on one day, of which 142 were within housing benefit limits for self-contained accommodation, and 14 of those properties had landlords willing to rent to housing benefit tenants.

That’s 9% of properties within the 30th percentile rate – this rate is set so that about 30% of properties should be available to someone claiming housing benefit.  But the rate was frozen in April 2012, and real private rents have continued to rise in Hackney.

And out of all the properties we looked at, under 1% were both within the limits and with a landlord willing to rent to a benefit claimant.

When we looked at just the family-sized properties (properties with two bedrooms or more), the picture was even worse.  Out of 1090 family-sized properties (from two to five bedrooms), there were just 36 properties (3%) within the limits and five of those (0.5%) with landlords willing to rent to someone on housing benefit.  We had all sorts of responses, from ‘No DSS’ outright on the advert, to people saying they didn’t work with the council, it was their personal preference, they didn’t like housing benefit tenants.  Many landlords said they would rent to working people only, seemingly unaware that many people claiming housing benefit are actually in work.  When we did find landlords willing to rent to housing benefit tenants, there were some uncomfortable questions being asked at the outset, in one case about nationality and family type.

We also looked at applying shared accommodation rates to the properties we surveyed, which are lower than the rates for self-contained accommodation.  There was only one within the limits (£92.35 per week for most of Hackney).  Shared accommodation housing benefit rates are paid to single people under 35 in the private rented sector.

Other interesting trends were some surprising business models springing up to make money out of the scarcity and difficulty facing prospective housing benefit tenants.  One advert linked to a site which asked for a registration fee in order to access properties available to housing benefit tenants, with adverts for high-interest credit to raise the required deposit and rent in advance that everyone must pay in order to secure private rented accommodation.  Another company linked through from Gumtree was advertising the provision of a deposit for a hefty non-returnable fee.

So for anyone in receipt of housing benefit and looking for somewhere to live in Hackney right now, prospects are looking pretty daunting at the moment.

Usually we’re not encouraged to go trawling property websites during working hours, yet last Friday three Citizens Advice volunteers, one Young Foundation intern and I were doing just this and hunting for flats in Hackney. We were each in receipt of a hypothetical Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and aiming to better understand the private rental market for Hackney residents receiving LHA. And what a disheartening Friday it turned out to be.

We wanted to find out what’s available in the private rented sector within the new capped housing benefit rates and whether those properties are available to rent to housing benefit tenants.

With five of us calling round and looking at all the online ads on Rightmove and Gumtree we managed to find 1586 properties listed in Hackney ranging from studio flats to five bed family homes.

This is a quick overview of our headline figures and we’ll be doing some number-crunching over the next few days for a more detailed breakdown at the end of the week.

We found that there were hardly any properties advertised within the 30th percentile caps for housing benefit – just 142, that’s just 9% of the total advertised.

These rates are set according to local rents, and should mean that 30% of available rented properties are priced within the cap (you can check your local rate with LHA direct). However the rates were frozen this year in April, so the number of properties within the cap will reduce as rents rise.

Of those properties that were priced within the caps, we all found that the vast majority were not available to housing benefit tenants. We found a grand total of nine properties with landlords willing to rent to housing benefit tenants, including one which required a guarantor. There were a whole range of reasons given from adverts specifying ‘No DSS’ to landlords saying they just preferred not to rent to housing benefit tenants. Nine out of 1586 properties – that’s a tiny 0.6% of the total properties advertised.

We’ll have a breakdown of our figures for you later in the week, but with just a handful of places willing to rent to housing benefit tenants, it’s a stark glimpse into the reality for people looking for somewhere to live in Hackney.

We’re running a workshop this Friday morning, 22nd June, on housing benefit changes and how to access help and information in Hackney.

We’re thrilled that local organisation Hackney Quest have very kindly agreed to host us through their volunteer-led Family Support project!

The workshop is aimed at people living and working in Hackney who would like to know more about the housing benefit changes and what options are available to people affected.

Details are as follows:

Date: Friday 22nd June
Time: 10.30am to 12.30pm
Location: Hackney Quest, Frampton Park Youth Club, Frampton Park Estate, London E9 7PF (Well Street entrance)

Everyone is welcome.  Contact us on email – hackneycabcrowdmap@gmail.com – to book your place.

There have been plenty of stories in the news that might give the impression that many housing benefit claimants are receiving thousands of pounds a week and living in mansions in central London.  We take a look at some of the statistics behind the headlines.

People are getting thousands of pounds a week in housing benefit

Even before changes to the housing benefit system were introduced in April 2011, the average housing benefit award for private rented accommodation was £110.21 per week and 48% of people claiming already had a shortfall between their benefit and rent – the average shortfall before the changes was £23 per week.

People claiming housing benefit should just get a job

Many housing benefit claims are paid to working households, particularly in the private rented sector where wages increasingly don’t cover the rent and 93% of new claims for housing benefit since the election have been from employed people.  In Hackney, the council’s own research has found that many people affected by housing benefit shortfalls are already in work, so moving into work isn’t a potential solution for them.

Only people in Kensington & Chelsea or Westminsterare going to have their housing benefit cut

All private rented households in Hackney will see a cut in their housing benefit over the next two years, thousands of households in total.  The east and north-east of the borough where rents are lower will be most heavily affected, not the higher rent areas of Shoreditch and Hoxton.

We’re highlighting the real stories behind these changes so that the impact isn’t swept under the carpet. Many Hackney residents have already shared how the changes are affecting them, to share yours visit our Impact Map.

We’re also sharing information and advice on what options are available to help anyone affected.

But with the Olympic ceremony kicking off the sporting action on July 27^th, most landlords don’t have sufficient time to lawfully evict private tenants with assured shorthold tenancies (the most common type of tenancy for private tenants who don’t live with their landlord).

This means that if your landlord is trying to force you to leave without going through the proper court procedure, they may be evicting you illegally.

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has warned that landlords face up to two years in jail if they harass or illegally evict their tenants to get them out before the Olympics.

What are my rights?

If you’re a private tenant with an Assured Shorthold tenancy and your landlord tries to make you leave before the Olympics without going through the proper procedures check out your options below. Don’t hesitate to seek specialist housing advice on your situation (details below).

The proper court procedure that a landlord must follow in order to lawfully evict their Assured Shorthold tenant can take several months, including:

• issuing correct written Notice Seeking Possession to the tenant which gives them notice (between two weeks and two months) that the landlord wants them to leave the property;

• applying for a Possession Order if the tenant has not left the property by the end of the notice period;

• applying to court for a Warrant of Eviction if the tenant has not left the property by the final date given on the Possession Order. The court will issue a document called the Notice of Eviction which gives the date on which bailiffs will attend the property to evict the tenant.

Things to remember

If the landlord has to apply to the court to get a Possession Order (after the Notice Seeking Possession has expired), and the court decides to evict you then it is likely that you will have to pay the landlord’s costs. To get a Possession Order against an Assured Shorthold tenant may cost about £200 if the case is straightforward, but can be much higher for more complicated situations or if the landlord uses a solicitor.

If you have received a Notice Seeking Possession you can check it out with a specialist housing adviser to find out your rights.

If the landlord has not protected your tenancy deposit in a recognised tenancy deposit scheme then they cannot use the Accelerated Possession Procedure.  You can check whether your deposit is protected here, and check what type of notice you have been given with a specialist housing adviser.

If your landlord threatens you or tries to make you leave by cutting off water, gas or electricity, then this may be harassment which is a criminal offence.

You can report illegal eviction and harassment to the police and to Hackney Council’s Housing Advice Service who have the power to prosecute landlords.

If you’re facing eviction, don’t hesitate to seek help and advice from a specialist housing adviser. A range of organisations in Hackney can help. See Where to get help for more information.

You can also find useful information on eviction on www.adviceguide.org.uk and on Shelter’s online Eviction Checker.

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