Theresa May warned over impact of housing benefit cuts on vulnerable groups

Shadow communities secretary Grahame Morris warned ministers they must go further and reverse the planned changes to supported housing scheme funding.

He warned the cuts will “jeopardise the safety” of people fleeing domestic violence and also affect the elderly, people mental health difficulties and the homeless.

Mr Morris said a failure to change the policy would raise serious questions about the new Government’s priorities while also accusing them of “breaking the covenant with our veterans”.

Earlier this year, the Government announced a one-year exemption for the supported housing sector from a planned 1% reduction in rent.

It also delayed for 12 months the introduction of the local housing allowance cap – which affects residents living in supported housing.

The Government has commissioned a review into the impact of its proposals.

Fears have been expressed that the changes would reduce the amount of money supported housing providers received in rent and could make it more difficult for them to deliver specialist services.

Leading an opposition day debate, Mr Morris said of the earlier decision: “I was pleased the minister agreed to delay the implementation of the cap but I must press ministers now to go one step further.

“They must reverse their decision to slash housing benefit for a huge range of vulnerable people living in supported housing.

“I would ask this question of ministers and members of the Government party – what kind of country would we be in if we abandoned the most vulnerable in our society?

“What kind of message will it send not just to the country and to vulnerable people but to observers around the world about the priorities of this Government?

“What credibility would be left of the outgoing prime minister’s (David Cameron) repeated assertion that the Government would not balance the books on the backs of the poorest?

“Unless ministers reverse this destructive decision, that will be precisely what they will be doing.”

Mr Morris warned that veterans, victims of domestic abuse and disabled people all rely on sheltered housing and would lose out if the cuts are imposed.

He said: “Supported housing provides vital help to tens of thousands of people across this country. It’s a mark of a decent, civilised society that services like this exist in the first place.

“They play a crucial role in providing a safe and secure home with support for people to live independently and for others to get their lives back on track.

“It also includes supporting ex-servicemen and women to find a stable home including those suffering from post traumatic stress problems – mental health as well as physical disability needs.

“Can I remind the House, we have an Armed Forces covenant and that sets out the relationship between the nation, the Government and the Armed Forces.

“And it recognises the nation, as a whole, and this House in particular has a moral obligation – I call it the debt of honour – to the members of the Armed Forces and their families, and it establishes how they should expect to be treated and how we should expect to treat them.

“But if ministers don’t do a U-turn today – and I’m an eternal optimist, I’m a Sunderland supporter – if we don’t get a U-turn today it would be breaking that covenant with our veterans, and those who have given so much to the service of our country.”

He branded the plan a “pernicious proposal” and warned that many sheltered housing schemes have been shelved due to the promised cuts.

A long list of housing organisations have condemned the plans, which risk leading to an increase in homelessness and pulling the plug on crucial support for people transitioning back into mainstream housing.

And he also warned that hostels for victims of domestic violence are closing because of a lack of funds.

Mr Morris said: “The problem is, the hostels, the establishments, the places of safety are disappearing.

“We need places of safety, mostly for women but also for some men who have potentially suffered violence, some of whom have suffered threats of death.

“And in the meantime if these establishments close I think it would be a terrible indictment on the Government if that’s allowed.”

He added: “I shudder to think of what the consequences could be if these facilities are allowed to close.”

He urged the newly reshuffled Government to do a U-turn on their plans, saying it would be “something of a tragedy” if they went ahead.

And he urged Mrs May to show she meant her words when she said she would make the country work for everyone not just the “privileged few” when she took up the role at No 10.

He said: “The new Prime Minister once talked about the Conservative Party being the ‘nasty party’, and when she spoke on the steps of No 10 she said she wanted a country that works for everyone.

“The Government has an opportunity today to prove the Prime Minister meant what she said just seven days ago.

“But if the newly appointed ministers refuse to listen to reason, and proceed with these callous cuts, they will be demonstrating that the Conservatives haven’t really changed and truly deserve their ‘nasty party’ label.”

Damian Green, the newly appointed Work and Pensions Secretary, said he is “prepared to listen carefully to the concerns of the supported housing sector regarding the application of local housing allowance rates”.

He said: “I’m prepared to be as flexible as possible in making sure that these vital welfare policies actually work.

“This particular issue is high on my list of priorities and so I am keen to ensure that the decisions I make don’t unduly affect the sustainability of provision, the commissioning of new services or particularly the individuals who receive support.”

He stressed that the local housing allowance cap will not affect any benefit recipient until April 2018.

He said it is “better to get it right than to rush to make a decision” as he pledged to consider the findings of the review.

“I expect to make an announcement on the way forward in the early autumn,” he said.

“We are going to spend the summer looking at the evidence and I will make an announcement in the early autumn.”

Mr Green said that announcement will “provide the certainty that quite reasonably the sector is demanding”.

He said he recognised the potential impact the current cap policy could have on the supported housing sector as he said the review is in its “final stages”.

Meanwhile, Alison Thewliss, the SNP’s Glasgow Central MP, said supported housing providers and tenants are “deeply worried about what the future holds” for them.

She said: “A wide range of service provision is under threat by the continued uncertainty over this policy.

“I’m appalled that the people supported by this sector are being put at risk by the lackadaisical, speak-now-figure-it-out-later attitude this Government takes to social security.”

Labour MP Jess Phillips said many refuges rely entirely on housing benefit to provide the security of a home to residents.

She said: “What pays for the nuts and bolts and the beds and buildings and the place where people live, their homes, their security, is housing benefit.

“The reduction will lead to people being left in very unscrupulous housing, the sort we do not want to see people ending up (in).

“Housing benefit currently pays for things like CCTV, security, support, and all of that extra stuff that maybe we take for granted because we don’t have it in our homes but then we haven’t been repeatedly raped for the last six months of our lives.”

She added: “The ministers opposite will be shutting off the route of safety for these women if these changes in housing benefit come in.”

But Tory Maria Caulfield said the debate had been used as an opportunity for scaremongering and Labour MPs were drawing false conclusions about the review.

The Lewes MP said: “Supported housing is such an important issue that to prejudge the outcome of this review with words that are best inaccurate but worst aimed at scaring vulnerable people in our country is just plain wrong.

“It’s wrong to say the Government intends to cut housing benefit for those in specialist housing, when what is happening in reality is that a review of supported housing is taking place and while that review is taking place supported housing is exempt from housing benefit changes and exempt from rent reduction changes that are coming in for general needs housing.”

Labour MP Kate Hollern (Blackburn) warned that charities which provide supported housing are scared about the future.

She said: “There has been a cloud over supported housing funding for quite some time. With shrinking budgets and uncertainty in welfare policy, these problems have come to a head with the Government’s proposed Local Housing Allowance cap.”

She warned it has been estimated that 41% of existing supported housing would close if the cut goes ahead.

And she dismissed claims that she and other Labour MPs risked scaremongering about the risks to sheltered housing, saying that charities are also making dire warnings.

Ms Hollern said: “I can tell this House, The Salvation Army are not scaremongering, they are scared. They are scared they can no longer provide the provision that we know is desperately needed.”

Fellow Labour MP John Healey said the proposed cuts were announced by then chancellor George Osborne with no assessment, consultation or warning.

“With one short sweeping statement he put at risk almost all specialist housing – for the frail elderly, for the homeless, for young children and people leaving care, for people with dementia, those with mental illness, learning disabilities, those fleeing domestic violence and some of our veterans as well,” he said.

He said the test for the new Secretary of State Damian Green will be whether he manages to persuade the new Chancellor Philip Hammond to scrap the cuts.

Conservative MP Julian Knight (Solihull) said sheltered housing provided much-needed support for vulnerable people, but added that the housing benefit bill had ballooned and needed to be brought down.

He said: “Bringing down the welfare bill is essential if we are not to pass on an unsustainable debt to our children.

“And let us not forget that it was under Labour that housing benefit debt ballooned to one of the largest and fastest growing parts of our welfare system.

“It is quite staggering that at the start of this year the annual cost stood at some £25 billion – more than we spend on roads, the police and equipping the military put together.”

Tory Kevin Hollinrake accused Labour MPs of “causing distress” for their constituents.

He said he accepted parts of the Labour motion, including that supported housing should be exempt from the cap.

But the Thirsk and Malton MP added: “I don’t accept the motion which says the Government intends to cut housing benefit for vulnerable people – that is clearly not the case, or you don’t know that’s the case.

“This is subject to a review and I’d absolutely assert that members opposite are absolutely causing distress to their own constituents.”

Tory Heidi Allen, a vocal critic of some of the Government’s welfare reforms, said ministers must quickly decide what they are going to do.

She warned “damage” is done to the Government’s reputation when its proposes “cuts without simultaneously communicating an alternative”.

The South Cambridgeshire MP said: “I believe the British people trust this Government to be financially prudent, but at the same time they also want to see the most vulnerable people in our society protected.”

Ms Allen added: “While Government undertakes its review of this sector and no definitive funding proposals have been outlined, the sector sits in a state of paralysis.”

She explained how the cap on housing benefit would result in a loss of £537,000 to the CHS Group in her area and put four of its schemes into an operating loss.

Ms Allen went on: “So in this vacuum of uncertainty the sector, which badly needs to grow to fill the demand we all know exists, stalls.

“Schemes are not brought forward, investment plans are shelved, places are not offered to the most vulnerable citizens and they suffer.

“Delaying implementation of the housing benefit cap on this sector is welcome but excessive delays in outlining a new model is damaging.”

The Labour motion – which called for the Government to exempt supported housing from the planned housing benefit cuts, among other issues – was defeated by 290 votes to 256, majority 34.

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