City council handed out ‘lifeline’ housing payments of £565,000

Cash goes to help cover shortfalls in rent payments

CALLS have been made to ensure as many people as possible in Portsmouth are able to claim for a ‘lifeline’ housing payment as it was revealed the council handed out more than £550,000 last year.

Department for Work and Pensions figures show Portsmouth City Council paid £565,800 in Discretionary

Housing Payments (DHP) to claimants from the year up to March 2020.

Of that, £325,300 went to helping people who were in difficulties because of reforms in the welfare system – such as bedroom tax and benefit caps.

Payments are given to people who qualify for housing benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit, and are struggling with housing costs to prevent them falling behind on rent.

Housing activist and Portsmouth councillor, Cal Corkery, said: ‘On a weekly basis in my role as a councillor I come across families really struggling because of bedroom tax and the benefit cap.

‘Discretionary Housing Payments are a lifeline to some of those people and help cover the shortfall in rent which could otherwise lead to arrears and eviction.

Cllr Cal Corkery

‘One of the issues with DHP is there’s quite a low level of awareness of claimants about what they can actually claim, which is a bit of a barrier. Also people who do try to claim can be, for whatever reason, unsuccessful.’

According to the figures more than 40 per cent of councils nationally had to spend more than the amount they got from the government.

But Portsmouth City Council spent 92 per cent of its government allocation last year.

Cllr Corkery added: ‘It is good that the council is allocating almost all the money though because in previous years I think it had fallen short and that money just goes back to central government.

‘I imagine there will be a big rise in applications due to the pandemic so we have to be prepared for that.’

In May, the government announced funding for councils would increase by £40m in 2020-21, to £179.5m.

Portsmouth City Council is set to receive £793,000, an increase of 28 per cent on last year.

The figures showed East Hampshire District Council paid out £119,000 last year to help benefit claimants struggling with housing costs, and Fareham Borough Council paid out £111,000.

DHP is a lifeline to some of those peope and help cover the shortfall in rent