News from Murad Qureshi (past staff): Put up housing benefit or risk slew of evictions, Government warned

Put up housing benefit or risk slew of evictions,

Government warned

The Government should urgently increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) or they risk seeing evictions soar in the capital, Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Murad Qureshi AM, has warned. Mr Qureshi’s intervention comes ahead of the scheduled lifting of the Government’s three-month ban on evictions in a just few weeks’ time.

In a letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, Mr Qureshi has urged the Government to restore LHA to the median (50^th percentile) level, so that it covers average rents in a local area. LHA was previously set at this level from its introduction in 2008 until 2011.

Figures published by the housing charity, Shelter, suggest that the current gap between LHA rates and rents could be more than £1,200 for some households in the capital.

Mr Qureshi is also calling for the removal of the benefit cap on Universal Credit, so more Londoners struggling with mounting rent arrears can access extra Government support. This comes as research carried out by Policy in Practice, commissioned by City Hall, has shown that the number of households in London hitting the cap has doubled amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.

Mr Qureshi says these measures alone could have a significant impact in preventing mass evictions across the capital next month, citing the disproportionately higher rents and number of people in the private rented sector in London, compared to rest of the UK.

City Hall analysis shows that the median rent of a one-bedroom home in London is more expensive than a three-bedroom home in every other region in England.

Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Murad Qureshi AM, said:

“This pandemic has already made life hard for people, without having the threat of eviction looming over them.

“Reforms to housing benefits were already long overdue, but now they are needed urgently. Increasing housing benefit and removing the benefit cap would make a significant difference to Londoners who, by far, pay the highest rents in the country.

“At the beginning of the outbreak, the Government repeated the mantra that they would do ‘whatever it takes’ to protect people from the worst impacts of the pandemic. It’s time to show that they meant it.

“I have now written to the Work and Pensions Secretary to suggest just two vital measures the Government could take to help renters at this time, and prevent a deluge of evictions”.

ENDS