Underoccupancy benefit cuts: What will happen to our residents?

Hilary Burkitt - Head of Strategic Research, Affinity Sutton

The government is planning to cut housing benefit for around 670,000 social tenants who are currently underoccupying their homes. What will happen to our residents who stand to be hit by this cut?

This question was troubling us and the other members of the Housing Futures Network: a group of four housing providers working together to examine the future of social housing. To provide the answer we carried out research, asking 452 of our residents what the impact would be on them.

The results clearly show that many would be hard hit by this cut: four out of five thought it would be difficult for them to afford to pay the extra towards the rent to make up for the cut in benefit. More than one in three believed they would end up in arrears as a result.

The majority of those affected are people with disabilities or serious health issues and one in five live in a home which is specially adapted for someone in their household with a disability.

We also found that significant numbers had needs for space which aren’t recognised by the criteria which will be used to determine who will be hit by the cut. For example, over one in 10 have children who regularly stay with them as part of a shared parenting arrangement.

We heard from individuals who could be separated from vital support networks if they were compelled to move, and those who felt they would be forced to drastically cut back their household expenditure, even as far as skipping meals to make ends meet.

With the Welfare Reform Bill currently going through the Lords, we are backing the National Housing Federation’s calls for a rethink.