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Local housing allowance for care leavers and homeless young people

EDM (Early Day Motion) 188: tabled on 13 February 2020

Tabled in the 2019-21 session.

This motion has been signed by 17 Members. It has not yet had any amendments submitted.

Motion text

That this House is deeply concerned that care leavers risk facing eviction and homelessness on their 22nd birthday, due to the increasing gap between the local housing allowance and private sector rents; regrets that care leavers aged 22 have their local housing allowance reduced to the lowest shared accommodation rate (SAR); notes Centrepoint’s analysis of rental data which shows that a room in a shared house would only be affordable in one of 234 local authority areas for those in receipt of the SAR; is also deeply concerned that homeless young people under the age of 25 are trapped in supported accommodation because the SAR is not enough to cover the cost of rent; regrets that this causes bed-blocking of vital spaces for other homeless people; notes that to extend the exemption from the SAR on an annual basis, it would cost around £6 million for care leavers and £3.8 million for homeless under 25s; and therefore urges the Chancellor to provide this relatively small amount of funding in the upcoming Budget which will make a huge difference to the lives of vulnerable young people, many of whom have experienced unspeakable trauma and difficulty.

The first 6 Members who have signed to support the motion are the sponsors. The primary sponsor is generally the person who tabled the motion and has responsibility for it. The date shown is when the Member signed the motion.

In addition to the sponsors, the following Members have signed to support the motion.

There are no withdrawn signatures for this motion.