Renters less willing to take on benefit claimants
UNIVERSAL CREDIT is accentuating the lack of access to housing in some of Yorkshire’s most affluent areas as “hidden poverty” blights the region’s wealthier communities, charity officials have warned.
While areas such as Harrogate and York have a reputation for wealth – with the highest average housing costs in the region, according to one organisation – people working with those affected by changes to the benefits system believe it could be making the financial situations of some people worse.
Julie Everill works with the Harrogate Homeless Project (HHP), a service which has seen a rise in demand since the North Yorkshire town was one of the first in the country to see Universal Credit – which is replacing six other benefits – rolled out.
Miss Everill said: “About five to six years ago we reported one of the highest rough sleeper counts in the country. I think part of the reason for that is the fact that Harrogate is an affluent town.
“Private landlords here have the ability to charge more, are more selective, housing is in high demand and the kind of one-bedroom flat and accommodation maybe our people would be looking at is at an absolute premium.
“Maybe in cities or other places you would find cheaper accommodation. Here it’s a constant battle.”
According to the National Housing Federation’s Home Truths Study 2017/18, average house prices in Harrogate were the region’s most expensive at £330,182, with York following at £263,262, compared to the Yorkshire average of £181,740.
The mean monthly private sector rent rate in Harrogate was £835, and £866 in York, compared to £573 across the region.
The North Yorkshire averages as a whole were £244,690 for house prices and £655 for private rent.
Miss Everill said: “A few years ago, Harrogate was part of the roll-out of Universal Credit.
“Prior to that, if somebody wanted private rented and were willing to move to another area, we could get them housed very quickly in Leeds.
“(After) Universal Credit, none of the private landlords in Leeds would touch people on Universal Credit with a barge pole.”
One HHP visitor Jayde Shaw, 25, moved from Blackpool to Harrogate when she was 18, and has been on UC for four years after moving over from Jobseeker’s Allowance. She said: “I’ve just worked full-time for six months. I’ve had a recent change in life and I’m not working at the moment. This month after coming out of work I’ve received £192, but that’s because they’ve taken into consideration my earnings from last month.
“I think it was better when there were different types of benefits. Universal Credit puts everyone on the same benefit when we’re not all the same.”
Speaking about Harrogate, Miss Shaw said: “It’s hard to live here, it’s hard. There is a lot of money here. It’s hidden, the people who are poor. It’s hidden well, unless you come to a place like this.”
Harrogate Borough Council said it provides online support for completing Universal Credit claims and also offers residents a ‘managing your money’ service that helps with budgeting and debt. There is support available through Council Tax reduction and discretionary housing payments, the authority said.
“We have also partnered with the Leeds Credit Union to offer a range of financial services including savings, loans and low-cost purchasing of household white goods,” a spokesman said.
Tom Brittain, assistant director of housing and community safety at City of York Council, said: “We recognise that while Universal Credit works well for some, for others it’s not so straightforward to live in a city like York which has high housing prices and relatively low incomes.
“We’re working with the DWP and the voluntary sector to continue to support residents before and during their UC claims, and with budgeting.” FOR TONY Carson and his fiancée Sue Rimington, they were enjoying a comfortable life while living and working at a pub.
But after they left that business, their next move fell through and they found themselves out of work and homeless, and went on to Universal Credit.
They initially moved into a council-run hostel in York, but struggled to keep up with the rent there, partly because of UC being paid monthly.
The couple then had to leave the hostel in August as they had been sleeping there on alternate nights.
Dogs were also banned from the facility, and when Tony and Sue’s dog-sitting arrangement fell through, they and their pet Buster moved into a tent beside the River Ouse for several weeks.
They are now housed again, but speaking at the time of their homelessness, Mr Carson said: “Universal Credit does not work, and it’s the fault of the system.
“It doesn’t help you get back on your feet, it traps you.
“The staff at the York Jobcentre have been helpful but they have to fulfil their duties and the system does not work.
“We receive Universal Credit of £465 a month. The DWP also pay towards housing costs, but their assessment for two people in a single property in York is £430 a month and you cannot get anywhere in York for that.
“The rent in the hostel is £128 a week plus £35 amenity charges.
“So we get £465 a month of Universal Credit and from that we have to pay £98 a month to top-up our rent at the homeless hostel and £160 a month in amenity charges, so we’ve only a few pounds a day left for everything else.
“In the middle of August, we had £23 to last us 11 days until our next Universal Credit payment and we had to buy washing powder and gas for the camp stove.”
Mr Carson added: “I managed to get some work one month, so they took 63p in the pound out of the Universal Credit and our payment that month was £253 – but then they assumed we were getting that income again the next month, when we weren’t, so we were short until they resolved it.
“They also expect the system to operate entirely online but if you are homeless you can’t charge your phone up whenever you want, you often can’t afford to call someone, and if they send a message to you and you don’t receive it, then straight away you’re under threat of being sanctioned.
“The idea of Universal Credit as a one-size-fits-all system is a nonsense.
“It needs more flexibility built into it. It needs to allow for people’s circumstances.” A POLICY director for the National Landlords Association has said that members are far less likely to rent to Universal Credit claimants than people entitled to benefits just six years ago.
The number of NLA members in Yorkshire willing to accept Universal Credit (UC) tenants or those receiving Housing Benefit has almost halved from the second quarter of 2012 to this year – from 43 per cent to 26 per cent.
Housing Benefit is being phased into the UC welfare reforms up to 2023.
Chris Norris, NLA director of policy and practice, said that landlords’ hesitance to rent to those in receipt of the benefit means the claimants are vulnerable to criminal housing conditions.
Speaking to as part of a week-long series of articles about the Government’s flagship benefit reforms, Mr Norris said: “It happens on a case-bycase basis, so this is obviously all generalised, but an awful lot of landlords are saying, ‘This is no longer worth my time’.”
He said that because of UC’s “negative reception”, there is “quite a distrust of the centralising of the system for a lot of landlords”, who may no longer know the name of a claimant’s benefits officer to contact if problems such as rent arrears occur.
Mr Norris added: “Universal Credit simply has not kept in line with inflation.”
In April 2016, the Government announced a four-year freeze on certain benefits which had previously raised in line with inflation.
“With the Government freeze on housing supported renters which is going to extend to 2020, there is a really significant gap building up there,” he said.
Mr Norris added that there will be a situation where “tenants won’t be able to cover the costs” and “if the landlords tried to run the rent at a level that would work with Universal Credit, they won’t be able to run the property”.
He added: “The problem is, some who are still prepared to let and take on in some cases much lower rents, are those who aren’t investing back into the property.
“At best they are lazy investors, perhaps ignorant investors. At worst, they are actively criminals who will come and fill the gap left by the good landlords.”
He said: “If you make it impossible to provide good housing, what you’ve got left is rogue landlords providing bad housing.”