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Scotland

The Impact of Social Security on Housing in Scotland - Topic Briefing

By: Shelter Scotland
Published: July 2019

The Impact of Social Security on Housing in Scotland - Topic Briefing

Key points:

- The top reason that people approached Shelter Scotland for help last year was affordability and we have found that more and more people are struggling with rising housing costs, which are exacerbated by the current state of social security, as well as stagnant incomes.

- Since 2010, there have been significant changes to the social security system in the United Kingdom, most notably with the introduction of Universal Credit from 2013. Welfare reforms have negatively impacted upon the vast majority of Shelter Scotland’s clients and the administration of Universal Credit in particular has put people into financial hardship. Coupled with the benefit cap, this has made people homeless, which is completely unacceptable.

- There have been changes in Scotland, too. Under the Scotland Act 2016, new powers over benefits and tax-raising have been devolved and, as a result, a new Scottish Social Security Agency has been set up to take over the delivery of 11 new benefits. While the only housing-related benefit to be devolved is Discretionary Housing Payments, this change still means that for the first time, Scotland has responsibility for delivering benefits to some of the most vulnerable people in society, and failure to deliver these successfully would result in major hardship.

- The Scottish Government has also been using their limited powers to mitigate two welfare reforms that have had a particular impact on housing affordability: the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. While welcome, Shelter Scotland believes that this has a knock-on effect on their ability to help people who have other housing affordability issues. The mitigation policy around the benefit cap is also unclear and has not prevented people from becoming homeless in Scotland as a result of the cap.

- We know that the transition to Universal Credit has caused concern among landlords in both the private and rented sector, and has led some to be more inflexible in their approach to renting to people on Universal Credit. This unfairly disadvantages people in this situation, and can arbitrarily and unfairly make it harder for people to move on from homelessness.

- Given that welfare reform has undoubtedly contributed to people becoming homeless, both the Scottish and UK Governments should take critical steps to ensure that the social security safety net is set at a level which enables people to access and sustain a safe, secure and affordable home.