Homeless Link have added their support to a joint letter from more than a dozen of the UK’s leading homelessness charities, warning Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall that proposed welfare cuts will lead to increased homelessness.
Coordinated by St. Mungo’s, the letter cites three specific proposed changes likely to have a negative impact on those currently without a home or at risk of homelessness.
These are cutting the health element of Universal Credit, limiting entitlement to PIP and delaying eligibility for these benefits until people are 22.
The consequences of these changes, the letter warns, would be to undermine the welcome stated aims of the proposed reforms: to provide people with the support to get back in to work. This is because, as Homeless Link and other signatories to the letter note, homelessness can “devastate” people’s chances of employment.
A vote in Parliament is due to take place on the proposals in the next few weeks. On 11 June, the Chancellor is also expected to announce the Comprehensive Spending Review, which will include further measures that will likely impact on levels of homelessness and funding for homelessness services.
Homeless Link’s Breaking the Cycle campaign has highlighted the need for all Departments of government – including the Department for Work and Pensions - to work together in a coordinated way to reduce and prevent homelessness, which remains at historic and shamefully high levels.
You can find out more about our ongoing campaigning work on the Breaking the Cycle webpage.