[Skip to Content]
St Martin's Charity Joins Sector Call for Urgent Action on Local Housing Allowance

St Martin's Charity Joins Sector Call for Urgent Action on Local Housing Allowance

St Martin's Charity Joins Sector Call for Urgent Action on Local Housing Allowance

Monday, October 13, 2025

St Martin’s Charity has joined organisations across the housing and homelessness sector in urging government to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance.

The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum amount of housing benefit people can claim to help cover rent in the private rented sector. It is designed to make renting more affordable for families and individuals on low incomes across the UK, ensuring that people claiming benefits can access suitable housing.

Years of freezes to the LHA have resulted in the private rented sector being increasingly out of reach for people on housing benefits. Today, just 2.7% of homes in Great Britain would be affordable for someone relying on housing benefits. Despite this, the Government has made the decision to freeze LHA rates until at least 2026, which is putting even more pressure on households and frontline services.

This decision comes at a time when homelessness in the UK is at record levels. In England alone, 83,450 households qualified for homelessness support from their councils between January and March this year, and 4,667 people were counted as sleeping rough in Autumn 2024 – a 20% rise on the year before.

Voices from the frontline

This rising demand is placing significant strain on frontline workers across the homelessness sector. Each year, our Frontline Worker Survey asks frontline staff around the UK about what they are seeing on the ground in the housing and homelessness sector. This year, the LHA has emerged as a major concern. Among the 1,320 respondents to this year’s survey, the vast majority (84%) said that it is difficult or very difficult to find accommodation within the LHA rate for the people they support. It is clear that change is needed.

Joint action: a call for change

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity CEO, Duncan Shrubsole, has joined other homelessness charities, landlord and tenant organisations, debt advice charities and others, in signing a joint letter to government. The letter calls for LHA rates to be unfrozen, restoring them to cover at least the cheapest 30% of properties in a local area, as it was originally set out to do. By unfreezing the LHA rates, 75,000 children and 125,000 adults would be lifted out of poverty across the UK.

Unfreezing LHA rates is urgently needed to help struggling families avoid poverty, prevent homelessness, and ease the financial pressure on local councils.

The joint letter sets out two main demands of the UK Government:

  1. Restore LHA rates to cover at least the cheapest 30% of rentals from 2026/27
  2. Undertake a comprehensive assessment of the social and economic impact of restoring LHA rates to 50%

 

You can read the full letter here.

News and Views

collapse/expand
  • Brain Injury Guidance

    Brain Injury Guidance

    Leigh Andrews of Change Communication offered specialist advice on brain injuries and homelessness through a digital...
  • End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty Survey

    End Furniture Poverty have recently spoken with the Frontline Network to discuss their important ongoing survey, seek...
  • Cover the Cost Campaign

    Cover the Cost Campaign

    Jasmine Basran, Senior Policy Officer at Crisis, talks to us about the Cover the Cost Campaign, asking the Government...
  • VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    VRF Impact Report 2018/19

    Over the past year we have given out 3827 grants totaling £1,156,805 through the VRF. Read the latest Impact Report t...
  • Influence from the Frontline

    Influence from the Frontline

    Frontline workers are crucial at giving insight into the viewpoints of the people they work with as well as the chall...
  • The Vagrancy Act

    The Vagrancy Act

    Crisis, along with others including Homeless Link, Cymorth Cymru, Centrepoint, St Mungo’s, Shelter Cymru and the Wall...
  • Influencing local decisions

    Influencing local decisions

    Zoe, Frontline Network Coordinator at Coventry Citizens Advice, talks to us about the Coventry Frontline Network and...
  • The Litigant in Person Network

    The Litigant in Person Network

    Martha de la Roche, Network Development Manager at Litigant in Person Network (LiP Network), tells us about The LiP N...
  • VRF Impact Report

    VRF Impact Report

    Find out what impact VRF had last year and how to get involved in shaping its direction in the coming year.
  • Housing First Scotland

    Housing First Scotland

    Please see here for the first issue of Housing First Connect - a twice-yearly newsletter for Scotland’s new Housing F...
  • Slaying the Dragon

    Slaying the Dragon

    Will Golding, Edinburgh Tutor at Crisis, talks to us about 'Slaying the Dragon'.
  • CPAG - Early Warning System

    CPAG - Early Warning System

    Dan Norris, from CPAG, talks to us about a new Early Warning System to record the impact of benefit changes implement...
  • The Hostile Environment

    The Hostile Environment

    Bethan Lant, a Project lead from Praxis, writes about the creation of a hostile environment for migrants and refugees.
  • Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Wrexham’s Crisis Cafe

    Sinead Kelleher writes about Wrexham's Crisis Cafe, a multi-agency response to Universal Credit.
  • Frontline Worker Survey

    Frontline Worker Survey

    We are asking frontline workers to participate in a survey, aimed at those working with clients who are experiencing...
  • A map through conflict

    A map through conflict

    A Cyrenians Mediator writes about their innovative Amber Mediation and Support Project, a model of mediation and supp...
  • “A place to call home"

    “A place to call home"

    Hannah Gousy was seconded from Crisis to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) to help design policy recommendations to...
  • A London Nightshelter

    A London Nightshelter

    On 7 November we opened our church-based shelters for the winter with more churches signed on then ever before. Glass...
  • 'Step Up' at The Connection

    'Step Up' at The Connection

    Wyn Newman introduces the volunteer programme 'Step Up' that has been developed at The Connection for service users.