Fewer than three in every 100 private rental properties listed in England (2.5%) are now affordable for people on housing benefit. This is down from 12% in 2021-22 and despite the fact housing benefit was increased in April 2024 by then Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The situation is bleak across Great Britain, with just 2.7% of private rented properties affordable across the whole country. By looking at the gap between housing benefits and the cheapest 30% of rents between April and October 2024, data provided by Zoopla shows that households in Britain are being forced to find, on average, an additional £337 a month for a one-bed, £326 for a two-bed and £486 for a three-bed home.  

To make matters worse, a nationwide freeze on housing benefits came into force yesterday. As a result, 5.7 million households that rely on housing benefit to pay their rent will see a real-terms cut in the amount of support they receive. This means they are now even more likely to face difficult financial choices to meet rent costs, be pushed into arrears or even be forced into homelessness.  

Linking benefits to rising rents would help to reduce poverty and prevent homelessness, and also improve public health. Official figures from the English Housing Survey showed that, in 2023, over one million homes in England had problems with cold or damp. Living in poor quality accommodation is often the only option for people on lower incomes who can’t keep up with skyrocketing rents. This increases the chance of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as stress and mental health problems. Moreover, the financial impact of poor housing is substantial, costing the NHS an estimated £1.4 billion a year.

Over the last decade, rents in the private sector have risen by 45% in England. In the 12 months leading up to February this year, England has seen average rents increase to £1,381. This is against a backdrop of rising homelessness, with 126,040 households in England now in temporary accommodation, including over 164,000 children – the highest since records began. Crisis warns that the cost of sticking plaster, short-term solutions is pushing already stretched local authorities to breaking point – with 2.3 billion spent on temporary accommodation between April 2023 and March 2024.  

Westminster is currently developing a strategy to end homelessness which involves all departments, including the Department of Health and Social Care. Crisis says this strategy must be ambitious and consider solutions to reduce the impact of homelessness on people’s health and the NHS. Fundamentally, it must include a commitment to deliver 90,000 new social homes a year in England to deal with the chronic lack of social housing long term. To prevent homelessness and poor health rising further now, the government must maintain investment in housing benefit so that it covers the bottom 30% of local rents, so people can pay their rent and find affordable homes. 

Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis, said: “This isn’t just a difficult situation for private renters on low incomes, it’s an impossible one. In every local area, housing benefit is supposed to cover the lowest third of rents in the private sector. We are currently nowhere near that. 

“There is no doubt that today’s freeze on housing benefit will lead to rising homelessness. It also risks completely overwhelming local authorities who are already struggling to cope with the demand for support and will leave more people stuck in unfit temporary accommodation that damages their health and wellbeing. 

“While we are pleased the Westminster government is working on a plan to get England back on track to ending homelessness, the scale of its ambition must match the gravity of the situation. We urge ministers to reverse the real-terms cut they are making to housing benefit as it will only undermine their efforts. We must also see a once in a generation commitment to building the social homes we so desperately need if we are to create a better, healthier future for the nation.” 

Paul McDonald, chief campaigns officer at Health Equals, added: “It is alarming that fewer than 3% of private rented homes listed across Great Britain are currently affordable for people on housing benefits. A safe, warm home is the foundation of a healthy and happy life and, as the report makes clear, when people are forced to move house, sofa surf, live in temporary accommodation or cold, mouldy and overcrowded conditions, their health and wellbeing suffers. In the UK thousands of lives are already being cut short by up to 16 years by factors like poor quality and unaffordable housing.” 

Richard Donnell, executive director of Research at Zoopla, commented: “Growing the number of homes in the private and social rented sector is the only way to alleviate the lack of supply and affordability challenges facing the nation’s renters. The number of homes in rented tenures has been static for over a decade, yet demand has boomed pushing rents higher, squeezing those on lower incomes.

“The government needs to encourage landlords to remain in the market and continue investing in growing supply while ensuring there is demand from housing providers to buy new build affordable homes for social and affordable rent to support the target for 1.5m new homes. It’s also vital that housing benefit is uprated so that we maintain the link with rent levels to stop more people being forced from the private rented sector into homelessness.”