Introduction Shelter Scotland Welcomes the Opportunity To
SSC/S5/19/SSH/12 SOCIAL SECURITY COMMITTEE SOCIAL SECURITY SUPPORT FOR HOUSING SUBMISSION FROM SHELTER SCOTLAND Introduction Shelter Scotland welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Social Security Committee‟s call for views on how social security support for housing costs is impacting clients, with particular focus on the impact of welfare reform. Every day we support people struggling with housing costs and affordability was the top reason people came to us for help last year. Shelter Scotland is Scotland‟s national housing and homelessness charity. We are here so that no-one has to face bad housing or homelessness alone. In 2017/18 Shelter Scotland helped over 21,000 people through our housing advice and support services across Scotland – more than ever before. Along with our national helpline and local projects, we operate four community hubs across Scotland which offer clients support and advice in Scotland‟s major cities; Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. Adequate social security, in addition to the supply of affordable homes, is key in helping people to affordably access and sustain their homes, but welfare reform has pared back support for housing costs to the point where many households cannot sustain their tenancies. Mitigation measures and recent developments around Universal Credit (UC) have been helpful, but they are sticking plasters for systemic problems in a system which urgently needs to be reviewed on a number of fronts. Overall, we believe that social security support for housing costs must be more generous to accurately reflect the cost of housing: The freeze on LHA must be lifted in 2020, and at an absolute minimum, be set at the 30th percentile of local rents.
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