No 10 To Hold Pre-Budget Homelessness Summit
The government is holding a homelessness summit next week ahead of the budget and growing calls for a housing benefit boost. (Alamy)
3 min read
Downing Street is set to host a homelessness summit ahead of the Budget, PoliticsHome understands, as Andy Burnham faces calls to end the freeze on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to help tackle rough sleeping.
The summit, expected to take place Monday, will convene MPs and charities for talks ahead of Chancellor John Healey delivering the Burnham government's first Budget on Wednesday.
Burnham pledged to end rough sleeping in the UK upon entering No 10 in July.
A month later, in August, he announced £442m in additional funding to ensure all rough sleepers have somewhere safe to live by this Christmas.
"We did it in the pandemic. We can do it again. But it needs all of us," the PM said.
"Government will put the money in. But I’m asking leaders in communities and sectors across society to play their part locally too. Let’s get people out the cold. And let’s bring back hope."
Homelessness charities have been buoyed by the Burnham government's zeal when it comes to trying to eradicate rough sleeping.
"I can tell you that, having tried for many years to get people in the very heart of government, particularly in No 10, to care about this issue, it's amazing to see large numbers of people now doing everything they can," Crisis chief Matt Downie recently told PoliticsHome.
However, there is growing concern that ministers will not agree to uprate LHA in Wednesday's Budget, despite a two-year freeze being seen as a major driver of homelessness.
LHA, which limits how much Universal Credit is paid to private renters, was originally designed to cover the cheapest 30 per cent of private sector rents, with claimants whose rent is higher paying the shortfall themselves. However, the freeze introduced by Labour in 2024 has resulted in a real-terms value cut because rents have risen in that time.
Councils have warned that the freeze is making rent increasingly unaffordable and pushing people into homelessness.
Trussell research shared with PoliticsHome on Tuesday showed that over half of private renters who receive LHA to help pay their rent had run out of food in the previous 12 months and couldn't afford more when polled this summer.
Burnham himself last year told PoliticsHome that he wanted to see the benefit uprated in line with rising rents.
"Restoring LHA to reflect real rental costs and accelerating the delivery of council and social homes would make a real difference in preventing homelessness," he said, speaking in his previous role as Manchester mayor.
Last week, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner, refused to commit to uprating LHA when speaking at the launch of a new Crisis report which called for the benefit to be increased.
Crisis has said Burnham should appoint a homelessness tsar to "knock heads together" and improve coordination across Whitehall.
