Councils fork out thousands for housing payments
Councils have had to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds in just six months on emergency housing payments for vulnerable people in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that Telford & Wrekin Council spent £264,690 between April and September 2018 helping people on benefits who are struggling to cover housing costs, while Shropshire Council spent £205,077 during the same period.
As part of the Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) scheme for the 2018-19 financial year, the Government awarded Telford & Wrekin Council a total of £560,103 and Shropshire Council £483,003.
This shows that in the first six months, Telford & Wrekin Council had to spend almost half of its annual budget, while Shropshire Council had to spend more than two fifths.
Payments can be awarded to claimants if they have been affected by specific housing policies and could be at risk of homelessness, or if they have emergency costs unrelated to welfare reforms.
Allowance
Of the money spent so far, the largest proportion in Telford & Wrekin, 32 per cent, was due to due to housing allowance reforms.
Nearly half the money spent by Shropshire Council, 46 per cent, was due to emergency circumstances such as homeowners moving house at short notice.
Financial assistance charity Turn2us said that while the payments are a vital source of income for vulnerable people, they are not a long-term solution to the housing crisis.
Campaigns manager, Matthew Geer, said: "Welfare changes over the last decade are leaving councils increasingly burdened, and funds are only limited.
"While we would welcome increasing the funding for DHPs, this will not solve the problem long-term and ultimately help to change the lives of people who are struggling.
Freeze
"The Government must stand up and act fast to end the rising tide of homelessness across the country – including building affordable homes, tackling the issue of high rents and ending the ongoing benefits freeze."
Homelessness charity Crisis said it was concerned that the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme is unsustainable in the long term.
Chief executive, Jon Sparks, said: "To truly prevent people from becoming homeless, we need more than sticking plaster solutions."
The DWP said the scheme allows local authorities to provide additional support to people experiencing financial difficulty with housing costs and that it has provided about £1 billion since 2011 to local authorities to make the payments.
Last financial year, Telford & Wrekin Council was awarded £653,885 in funding for the scheme, compared to Shropshire Council's £531,974.
Telford & Wrekin spent almost all of its allocated funding last year and Shropshire spent less than half.
