Homelessness charity Crisis in partnership with rental property platform Zoopla have released new research suggesting that the Government needs to up-rate housing benefits payments to cope with a large shortfall for low income households between the housing benefit received and the rents that they actually pay.

The research points out that at the start of 2022 a quarter of private rented sector households in England "were reliant on housing benefit to keep a roof over their heads" (amounting to 1.2 million households) and that average rents in England have increased by 12% over pre pandemic levels whilst housing benefit rates based on 2018/19 rent levels have remained frozen since March 2020. This means that the shortfall is almost double what the most recent Govt figures suggest.

Matt Downie, Crisis chief executive said the current housing benefit level "is patently insufficient and unable to meet [households'] needs" whilst Zoopla executive director Richard Donnell said "The gap between housing benefit levels and actual rent is widening as demand for rented homes outpaces supply."

The research report can be accessed here.