The chief executive of activist group Generation Rent says Chancellor John Healey’s refusal to increase Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is unacceptable.

Holly Williamson – who was a member of  Healey’s staff until earlier this year – says renters have to decide whether to heat their homes, put food on the table, or pay their landlords.

She claims she’s “hugely disappointed” that Local Housing Allowance remains frozen in the Budget. 

Healey kept the freeze despite revealing  a number of measures to support people with rising energy bills, including a £2.6 billion scheme where people living in Council Tax bands A-D will receive a £100 energy payment this winter. 

Williamson says that while her former bossspoke in the Budget about the government’s ‘moral mission’ to end rough sleeping and young people spending too much of their income on rent, there was no mention of LHA being unfrozen.

LHA has been frozen since April 2024 but since then private rents have risen 23%, according to the Resolution Foundation. 

This means just 2.7% of advertised lets in Britain are affordable for people claiming housing benefit. 

Williamson continues: “Homes are the foundations of our lives, so it is hugely disappointing the government has maintained the freeze of Local Housing Allowance. 

“When housing benefit doesn’t cover the rent it forces families into impossible decisions, traps them in poverty and leaves them vulnerable to homelessness, with councils picking up the pieces. 

“This decision also brings into question the government’s goal of ending rough sleeping, as it will mean there are very few affordable long-term homes for people currently sleeping rough. 

“The government must tackle the root cause of the rental affordability crisis in our country by limiting annual rent increases, ensuring rents cannot continue to rise faster than wages and helping reduce the long-term cost to the taxpayer.”