Welfare Cuts and the Social Housing Sector

Housemark, the property sector data firm has released analysis on the performance of social housing landlords, showing that rent arrears in the sector have fallen by 7% since January this year, and compared to the same time in 2024 they have fallen by 10%. Government welfare and universal credit cuts, alongside the reduction of eligible people for PIP are potentially going to affect 3 million people and will severely threaten social housing tenants' incomes. These reforms are expected to make savings of approximately £4.8bn by 2030, however, social housing landlords and charities have concerns that the cuts and reforms will only result in an increase in homelessness.

The data also shows that the welfare cuts are expected to affect 59% of disabled or long-term illness tenants, and suggested landlords could provide more targeted support to tenants, and that there was an untapped £23bn in entitlements and unclaimed benefits that social housing landlords could use to help boost income.

The chief data officer at Housemark, Jonathan Cox, said: “The latest figures show that social landlords are doing an outstanding job in collecting income under increasingly tough conditions, with arrears down significantly year on year. But this progress is fragile. The impact of forthcoming welfare reforms could reverse these gains and lead to hundreds of millions of pounds in unpaid rent across the sector.”

Mr Cox went on to suggest housing providers and landlords should strengthen "support for tenants, ensuring income maximisation and preparing their organisations for increased financial pressure”.