Recommendations

1. Support entry into employment for people living in supported housing – Remove employment disincentives to help people in supported housing into work. The Government should ensure there is parity in the taper rates between Housing Benefit and Universal Credit housing elements, with both at a taper rate of 55%, as well as increasing the Housing Benefit disregard from £5 to £57.
2. Unfreeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Rates and increase the Benefit Cap to improve housing affordability – The benefit cap should be adjusted to account for variations across Broad Market Rental Areas (BMRA) which determine LHA eligibility. LHA rates should be maintained at the 30th percentile of local rents.
3. Transform healthcare for people facing homelessness – Long term funding should be provided for trauma-informed, multidisciplinary Neighbourhood Centres and dedicated mental health emergency departments, ensuring dedicated funding is allocating to supporting those that are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
4. Cross government investment in homelessness prevention services for individuals leaving public institutions – The Government should fund a national safe discharge programme of specialist hospital teams, increase its investment in Community Accommodation Service (Tier 3) CAS 3 to appropriately fund accommodation for prison leavers, bring back the 56-day move on period for newly granted refugees and invest in specialist homelessness prevention services within Home Office accommodation.
5. Improve housing outcomes for individuals experiencing multiple disadvantage – Extend and expand the Changing Future Programme nationally to meet the needs of individuals experiencing multiple disadvantage, drive evidence-based change at a local level and support joined-up commissioning. Programmes such as these should be collated in a ‘Multiple Disadvantage Evidence Base’ Hub to ensure that the system is learning and innovating.