Tenants and Advisors Early Experiences of the Local Housing Allowance and Money Management

Details of Project/Findings
Following the evaluation of the Local Housing Allowance Pathfinders, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was rolled out nationally in April 2008. LHA replaces Housing Benefit for tenants in the deregulated private rented sector and is part of the Government's wider strategy for Housing Benefit reform. Key features of the allowance are that entitlement is based upon household size (rather than size of property rented) and in most cases it is paid directly to the tenant, instead of to the landlord. The overall aim of the LHA is to empower tenants by enabling them to exercise more choice and take more responsibility over their housing decisions.

CRSP was been commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions to explore (qualitatively) tenants’ and advisors’ early experiences of the LHA national roll out, with a particular focus on issues arising from the direct payment of LHA to tenants and how tenants manage their LHA money. This research forms part of a wider two year review to monitor the impact of LHA at a national level.

The research was conducted in five local authorities and has two main elements. In each authority area two focus groups were convened, one with staff and advisors from the local authority, the other with advisors from independent advice agencies to explore their experiences of LHA and its impact on tenants. In-depth interviews were also conducted with tenants which focussed on their experiences of LHA in relation to money management and housing choice.

Sponsor: Department for Work and Pensions

Project team: Yvette Hartfree, Grahame Whitfield, Amanda Waring, Nicola Selby

Start date: June 2009

Completion date: Project completed and final report submitted June 2010. It is anticipated that the report will be published in the summer.

Related project: Evaluation of the Local Housing Allowance

top