Sussex homelessness charity's campaign to end discrimination against working hostel residents

The BHT Sussex Accommodation for Work Project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, offers temporary accommodation and support for people who are homeless to enter employment and training.

Over the past year 72% of people who have accessed the project have found paid work, and three quarters of them were affected by this benefits anomaly, ending up worse off when they increased their working hours, simply because they were living in a homeless hostel.

People living in hostels claim Housing Benefit for help with their rent, unlike people living in other accommodation who claim Universal Credit for this. This difference does not financially impact on hostel residents who are not working or who are earning under £608 per month (or under £482 per month if under 25). However, as soon as someone earns over that threshold, they are immediately financially disadvantaged.

BHT Sussex is recommending that Housing Benefit adopts the same treatment of income as Universal Credit, so that hostel residents are treated the same as other working benefit claimants.

David Chaffey, Chief Executive at BHT Sussex, said: “We call on MP’s and parliamentary groups to support this change. The government’s latest budget has an explicit focus on getting more people back to work, but people living in homeless hostels and temporary accommodation can still be penalised for doing so. This makes no sense. This is a national problem and can only be properly addressed by a change in national policy and benefit rules.”

BHT Sussex has written to all Sussex MPs outlining their campaign and asking for cross party support on the issue. MPs such as Caroline Ansell (Conservative MP for Eastbourne) Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour MP for Brighton, Kemptown) and Caroline Lucas (Green MP for Brighton, Pavilion) are now raising their concerns at various levels of government, for example with Parliamentary Questions and letters to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle said: “It is disheartening and frustrating that the current benefits system can put homeless people living in hostels in a disadvantageous position when they find employment – it is utterly counter-intuitive and counter-productive. The issue with the difference between how Housing Benefit and Universal Credit calculate earnings is alarming and needs to be addressed urgently.”

To find out more about all the latest developments in this campaign you can visit bht.org.uk