AQW 19165/22-27

Mr Andrew McMurray
Alliance Party
South Down

Tabled Date: 02/12/2024
Answered On Date: 07/01/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities for his assessment of the Local Housing Allowance freeze for 2025 and the impact on private renters.

Answer:

The increase in Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate from April 2024 assisted many renters with affordability of rent costs and with cost-of-living challenges more generally. Indeed, some households saw an increase in housing support of over 40 percent, which illustrates the scale of the impact that the 2020 freeze had on those living in the private rented sector. If the LHA rate is frozen again from 1 April 2025, the burden will once again be felt acutely by low-income households who will face a growing shortfall between housing support and housing costs.

I wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 5 March 2024 requesting that, going forward, Local Housing Allowance rates are considered with a view to maintaining pace with the increases in private sector rents.