THIS week’s Budget will be the first test of the Prime Minister’s pledge to end homelessness, a coalition of nearly 40 Scottish charities and academics has warned.
The coalition, convened by Homeless Network Scotland, has written to the Chancellor urging him to scrap the benefit cap and bedroom tax and end the freeze on Local Housing Allowance.
It says the policies leave low-income households struggling to meet their housing costs and raise the risk of homelessness, while tens of millions of pounds of public money in Scotland is diverted into reducing their impact.
Maggie Brünjes, Chief Executive of Homeless Network Scotland, said: “Housing policy is devolved to the Scottish Parliament but the reality is that the benefit cap, the bedroom tax and the Local Housing Allowance freeze are UK-wide policies which increase the risk of homelessness and which only Ministers in Westminster have the power to end.
“Andy Burnham has spoken strongly about his determination to end homelessness across all of the UK, while the Chancellor has previously described policies like the bedroom tax as ‘callous, reckless and heartless’. They now both have the chance to show that there is real intent behind the rhetoric and scrap these damaging measures.”
With the Scottish Government recently announcing £115 million in Discretionary Housing Payments, including funding to mitigate the UK restrictions, the coalition argues that public money could be better spent preventing homelessness in the first place.
It has pointed to the success of a £1 million prevention fund in Scotland, which prevented homelessness for 662 households over one year and is estimated to have saved almost £10 million in costs. The coalition says scrapping the policies would reduce the need for mitigation, freeing up funding which it would press the Scottish Government to put towards wider prevention work.
The call comes after annual figures released last month showed homelessness and rough sleeping continuing to rise across Scotland, with record numbers of children living in temporary accommodation.
Ms Brünjes added: “While it is welcome to see the Scottish Government mitigating the impact of these policies, it makes little financial sense for a government in one part of the UK to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money reducing the impact of policies imposed by a government in another part, while Ministers in both parliaments stress their ambition to end homelessness.
“Across Scotland, families are struggling to cover their rent, record numbers of children are living in temporary accommodation and rough sleeping is rising. This is funding that could instead help us scale up the proven approaches that we know can prevent people from losing their homes in the first place.
“The Chancellor has an opportunity to demonstrate he will match rhetoric with action by using his first Budget to scrap these policies and help families across Scotland keep a roof over their heads.”
Local Housing Allowance determines the amount of financial support low-income households can receive towards private rents. Rates have been frozen at 2024 levels, leaving households exposed to rising housing costs without corresponding increases in support.
The benefit cap limits the total amount of welfare support some working-age households can receive, while the bedroom tax reduces housing support for working-age social housing tenants deemed to have spare bedrooms.
The coalition is urging the Chancellor to use the Budget to lift the restrictions, ending the need for mitigation payments so more funding can go towards prevention.