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Our Response to the Budget: What it Means for Housing and Homelessness

Our Response to the Budget: What it Means for Housing and Homelessness

Our Response to the Budget: What it Means for Housing and Homelessness

Thursday, November 27, 2025

It was very good to see the Chancellor abolish the two-child benefit limit in the Budget on Wednesday, which will reduce poverty and vulnerability to homelessness for many families, particularly those stuck in expensive or temporary accommodation.

However, it was very disappointing to see the freeze on Housing Benefit (Local Housing Allowance - LHA) rates continue. The vast majority (84%) of frontline workers in the homelessness sector report that they find it difficult to find accommodation within the LHA rate for the people they support, as reported in our Frontline Worker Survey. 

The LHA sets the maximum amount of housing benefit people can claim to cover rent in the private rented sector. Over the years, freezes to LHA have meant that it increasingly falls behind actual rent levels, particularly in areas where rents are rising fastest. This gap between what people can claim and what landlords charge makes it harder for families and individuals to secure safe, long-term housing.

St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity CEO, Duncan Shrubsole, recently joined other homelessness charities, landlord and tenant organisations, debt advice charities and others, in signing a joint letter to government, calling for LHA rates to be unfrozen. This culminated in a joint action at Westminster, where St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity joined Crisis and 15 other organisations in solidarity to deliver a message to Rachel Reeves ahead of the Autumn Budget.

The joint call urged the Government to restore LHA rates to cover at least the cheapest 30% of properties in a local area. Unfreezing LHA rates is urgently needed to help struggling families avoid poverty, prevent homelessness, and ease the financial pressure on local councils.

We are also still waiting for the Government’s promised homelessness strategy – it is vital when it comes that it sets out clear steps to increase the availability and affordability of accommodation to prevent and resolve homelessness.

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