What is going on with housing benefit??

[MissMarplesCat]

I work with (adjacently) a recently retired man who has a heart issue and a plethora of other health issues. He told me that considering the new cuts to PIP he was reluctant to try to claim going on to his state pension.
I told him to still go ahead as he has nothing to lose.

However, what astounded me is that he is living (and has for 20 years) in a fairly decrepit rental that is thankfully charged at a few hundred below current market rent - but he still has to pay £60 pounds per month to the council per government shortfall.

I can't get my head around that.
If he is living in a place that is so far below market rent, doesn't this mean that the government are presuming he could find something cheaper? His rent is roughly £420 PCM.

How are people on benefits surviving in private rents if the gov don't acknowledge this reality? I am sure the gov know that the average rent in a nondescript town for a one bed property is currently over £400 PCM. Why pretend that rents are valued below it?

Surely if a person is unable to work and has reached state pension, such a low rent allowance is unrealistic. Shouldn't a benefit match the state of current rents? And if not, wouldn't the gov try to regulate rent prices to keep a balance?

I fear that this is only plunging people who are the most vulnerable into further poverty.

Does he have a spare room? Not sure whether or not the council make deductions if the property is larger than required. He should get on the list for council housing.

No it is a one bed flat in greater manchester. Not close to the city.

It's worked out on local housing authority allowance, or something... Google lha and postcode and it will tell you how much rent can be paid.

Everything is so awful at the moment. I have to pay bedroom tax because my son broke my ribs when he was 19. Not allowed to move back home, because my daughter was 8 at the time. They make no allowances for why you have that shitty tiny spare bedroom, but you'll pay for it. Your ribs weren't enough!

Yeah sorry, look at LHA. It's the maximum of what they'll pay, but £420 sounds average to cheap where we are, £360 in housing benefit for a month is very cheap.

It's all location location 🙄

Definitely Google local housing allowance and postcode.

It still seems steep!

Quick thought... Has he notified housing benefit of any increases to his rent since he moved in? The onus is on him to do so. Because clearly he hadn't enough on his plate. Poor man.

I promise this is a shit hole in Wigan, it is far below market rent in his area, which is usually around 6-8 hundred per month for a basic tenancy.

I attempted to search for a similar place in the same town as his housing budget and was massively priced out.
Any remaining or vaguely similar rents are either HMO's or in dire straights.

yes, he did. landlord is great and only increased slightly in 10 yrs.

Can he sign onto the housing register, try to get a HA property?
Claim discretionary housing payment top ups?
Claim anything else, attendance allowance?

Unfortunately that's how it is. It's really awful. They're based on some of the lowest rents. I have to pay a hefty amount more, almost half.

I'm sure the max housing benefit you can get in my area, slightly further north than you, for private renting is £400PCM. Even that would be better than what he is currently receiving! Maybe his claim needs looking at, or he's only entitled to a % of the rent ?

Wigan LHA for 1 bedroom is only £92.05 a week

Local housing allowance is the maximum amount the government will pay for a property, LHA is meant to be in line with the lowest 30% of rental properties.

LHA rates have been fixed for years, despite the huge increases in the cost of private renting. It's awful, but unless you're affected by it, people tend not to believe it's the case and assume that you're either not claiming everything you should or that you've wrongly taken on an unusually expensive property.

Many people worried about the PIP changes are worried because they use it to pay towards rent rather than using it for the purpose of helping them due to their disability