No-go zones

Last summer, in preparation for the introduction of local housing allowance, the Rent Service undertook a big review of the geographical boundaries which determine the maximum amount of housing benefit a claimant can receive.

These areas are known as localities for existing housing benefit claimants and broad rental market areas under the local housing allowance. Despite the unchanged regulations, the Rent Service review has had a massive effect in redrawing the boundaries, with the number of areas across England being reduced by nearly half, from 305 to 155.

This has resulted in rough justice for claimants, because rents are subject to huge variations within these large areas but the maximum housing benefit entitlement is a fixed amount.

As a consequence, tenants who may have lived in a property for years and claimed housing benefit are suddenly finding themselves facing sizeable shortfalls, despite their income and rent having stayed the same. Whole communities are now virtually no-go areas for tenants on housing benefit because they have been lumped in with neighbouring areas where rents are lower.

One Citizens Advice bureau reported that a single parent who has lived in a flat in north London for the past three years had recently been told that her housing benefit is being reduced by more than £20 per week as a result of a rent officer redetermination. She cannot find the extra cash from her weekly income support and so her landlady has started eviction proceedings. Her rent matches other flats in the area, so she cannot find anywhere cheaper and she will have to apply to the local authority as homeless.

A disabled Citizens Advice client in Derbyshire was paying rent of £495 a month for a property he shares with his daughter. He has recently been told that his housing benefit will be reduced by £20 per week following re-assessment. The bureau understands that this has been caused by a change in local rent officer determined boundaries, which is resulting in many tenancies in the Glossop area no longer being affordable for people on housing benefit.

The DWP argues that only 6 per cent of claims have been negatively affected by the review. However this hides the fact that at the local level the picture is very different.

An enquiry by Ribble Valley borough council revealed that in 35 of the 155 new localities, less than 1 per cent of claimants have had their entitlement reduced as a result – but in 22 localities the figure rises to more than 20 per cent.

And while some local authorities appear relieved to find that rates in their areas are relatively generous, others have raised concerns that large swathes of their private rented housing are no longer affordable to tenants on housing benefit.

Another consequence is that tenants living one side of a boundary can find that their maximum housing benefit entitlement is hugely different from people living in the next street but on the other side of the line. For example in Westminster, which straddles two localities, the figure for a two-bedroom property is £495 on one side of the boundary and £320 on the other.

It is difficult to see how this supports government’s wider agenda to promote mixed communities. And as local authorities increasingly find themselves looking to the private sector to meet housing need, it is more important that a good supply of affordable private rented housing exists across every authority.

The problem is that the regulations require the Rent Service to consider access to facilities such as health, education, recreation, banking and shopping (known in the trade as HERBS) in defining these boundaries, but rent officers are unable to consider the variance in rents.

Citizens Advice will be monitoring the impact of the revised localities carefully during coming months. We believe there may be a case for amending the rent officer regulations to ensure that they allow housing benefit claimants to afford private rented housing in every local community.

Liz Phelps is social policy officer at Citizens Advice.