Temporary accommodation and new housing rules

AimeesMum_2

Hi all,

I am asking for someone.

He is currently in a three bedroom house which is temporary accommodation as he is homeless. The rent is £1200 a month and fully covered by housing benefit as he is on JSA.

He has no dependants living with him, is over 25 and not sure how this 'bedroom tax' will affect him. The council put him in this property and he has been told that it is unlikely he will get a property within the next year.

He has requested a move to be told there is none available. He has actually been moved into this temp house which is out of tHe city be lives in as there was no properties available and the council must have had some kind of deal with this housing association and moved him there.
Thanks

gingergee

he will have to pay 20% of his rent out of his benefit money .

BigAunty

I would get him to ask the HB department directly or read up on the info on the Shelter website.

Is he actually a social housing tenant with a social housing tenancy or he's a private tenant? This under occupancy deduction of housing benefit applies to actual social housing tenants.

The reason I ask is that £1200 is actually a high rent and you say it's just a temporary arrangement so I wonder whether there is some sort of private sector leasing arrangement going on or its classed as emergency homeless accommodation.

I can't see that even in the private sector a single person would get full HB to cover a property with 2 spare bedrooms so I do wonder whether there is some sort of classification of it as emergency accommodation that is exempt from standard housing benefit rules.

It's totally ridiculous in this age of housing shortage that they put a single person in family sized accommodation but I'm going off topic now.

AimeesMum_2

It's classed as emergency temporary accommodation and is an property that is used as a PSL. The rent includes an element of 'housing support costs' for which he has a support worker who keeps him up to date with his points, placing on the lists etc.

20% of the rent is more than he makes nearly a month so he couldn't do that. He has written to the council three times requesting a smaller property as he can't afford the gas/electricity in such a large house but they say there is nothing else available.

BigAunty

I think he needs to contact his landlord and the local council asap to establish whether he is exempt because of the emergency homeless angle. Perhaps this is something his support worker can deal with?

I'm inclined to think that he is currently not a social housing tenant, that the housing association has perhaps got a private property under a PSL arrangement with a private landlord and is accommodating the homeless from the council.

Do come back to the forum with news of the update.

Without knowing the type of tenancy he actually has and not being an expert on housing benefit for the homeless, I can't actually help any further and I doubt many other posters can, except those who perhaps work in HB processing/housing officer roles.

lighting_up_the_chalice

If it's temporary accommodation provided to meet their duty under S193 of the 1996 Housing Act, his entire rental costs will continue to be met via housing benefits/local authority until such time as the main homeless duty is discharged.