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Tell the Chancellor: restore housing benefit to match the true cost of rent

This autumn, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has a choice: fix housing benefit to prevent homelessness – or see more people lose their homes. 

Email the Chancellor today and call on her to unfreeze housing benefit now.

At the Autumn Budget on 26 November, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has a choice: fix housing benefit to prevent homelessness – or see more people lose their homes. 

It’s up to us to get her to make the right choice. 

Housing benefit helps people on low incomes across Great Britain pay their rent so they can keep their home. But while private rents have soared, housing benefit has been frozen. 

This means millions of us are struggling to afford the safe, stable home that is the foundation for a healthy life. 

Just 2.7% of homes in Great Britain are affordable for those of us relying on housing benefit. The gap between housing benefit and the cost of rent is leaving people hundreds of pounds short every month.  

No one should have to choose between paying rent and buying food or heating their home. These impossible choices are driving people deeper into poverty, ill health, and towards homelessness. 

Yet the UK Government plans to keep housing benefit frozen – while saying they want to end homelessness. 

The Chancellor has the power to put this right at the Autumn Budget. By unfreezing housing benefit, she can help millions of us keep the safe home we need for good health. 

But she won’t act unless we demand it.

Email the Chancellor today and call on her to unfreeze housing benefit now. 

What is housing benefit?

Housing benefit is payments to help people on low incomes pay their rent. The amount you can receive is set by the Local Housing Allowance rate (LHA). 

It’s typically paid as part of Universal Credit and is a lifeline for 2 million households privately renting in Great Britain. It’s paid to people in England, Scotland and Wales. 

It is meant to cover the cheapest 30% of properties in a local area, but it has been frozen several times for long periods. 

Now just 2.7% of properties in Great Britain are affordable for people relying on it. That’s unacceptable.

Email Rachel Reeves

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At the Autumn Budget on 26 November, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has a choice. 

She can fix housing benefit to prevent homelessness – or see more people lose their homes. It’s up to us to get her to make the right choice. 

Housing benefit helps people on low incomes across Great Britain pay their rent so they can keep their home. But while private rents have soared, housing benefit has been frozen. 

This means millions of us are struggling to afford the safe, stable home that is the foundation for a healthy life. 

Just 2.7% of homes in Great Britain are affordable for those of us relying on housing benefit.

The gap between housing benefit and the cost of rent is leaving people hundreds of pounds short every month.  

No one should have to choose between paying rent and buying food or heating their home.

These impossible choices are driving people deeper into poverty, ill health, and towards homelessness. 

Yet the UK Government plans to keep housing benefit frozen – while saying they want to end homelessness. 

The Chancellor has the power to put this right at the Autumn Budget. By unfreezing housing benefit, she can help millions of us keep the safe home we need for good health. 

Email the Chancellor today and call on her to unfreeze housing benefit now. 

What is housing benefit?

Housing benefit is payments to help people on low incomes pay their rent. The amount you can receive is set by the Local Housing Allowance rate (LHA). 

It’s typically paid as part of Universal Credit and is a lifeline for 2 million households privately renting in Great Britain. It’s paid to people in England, Scotland and Wales. 

It is meant to cover the cheapest 30% of properties in a local area, but it has been frozen several times for long periods. 

Now just 2.7% of properties in Great Britain are affordable for people relying on it. That’s unacceptable.