Do you prioritise paying the rent, putting food on the table or keeping the house warm in winter?
asserted
you → prioritise → winter
In practice, says Laura Braddock, a single mum from Wirral, Merseyside, you always pay the rent first and improvise the rest.
asserted
you → say → rest
“If I’ve got a roof over our head, then everything else I can muddle through.”
asserted
I → get → head
The pressing problem for Braddock, 39, is that muddling through is getting harder.
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muddling → press → Braddock
The monthly rent for her two-bedroom flat far outstrips the local housing allowance (LHA) she receives – and the gap may widen.
uncertain
gap → outstrip → allowance
She pays her landlord £550 a month, but receives £425 in housing allowance, leaving her to make up a £125 “rent gap” out of her grocery and heating budgets.
asserted
She → pay → budgets
The former shop worker has a range of tried and tested strategies to cope, and to shield her son as far as possible from cost of living pressures.
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worker → have → pressures
She may pay half the gas bill.
uncertain
She → pay → bill
She’ll eat cheap pasta and beans – or skip her own meals altogether.
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She → eat → meals
In January, however, these strategies, and the constant juggling with ever tighter budgets, failed.
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strategies → fail → budgets
She was forced to go to a food bank for the first time in years to make end meet.
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end → force → years
It’s hard, she reflects, and the stress can affect her mental health.
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stress → ’ → health
“When I’m tired or hungry or whatever, that then has an impact on me, the way I parent.
asserted
I → ’m → me
I’ve got no energy sometimes …
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I → get → energy
It’s difficult.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Hundreds of thousands of low-income households are feeling the same pressures, said Trussell, the food bank network.
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Trussell → feel → pressures
Unless the government links LHA more closely to actual rents, it added, many more will be forced to turn to charity food.
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many → link → food
The growing gap between LHA rates and local rents means more than half (62%) of private renters receiving housing support have gone without food and heating in the past six months because they could not afford them, Trussell estimated.
uncertain
Trussell → grow → them
The gap is expected to reach record levels this autumn.
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gap → expect → levels
According to the Resolution Foundation thinktank, the average difference between rent and LHA faced by a low-income household renting a two-bedroom home in the private sector is £158 a month – rising to as much as £324 a month in parts of London.
uncertain
difference → accord → London
Trussell wants the government to relink LHA to the cheapest 30% of local rents.
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government → want → rents
It estimates this would lift 105,000 people out of severe hardship by 2028-29, including 40,000 children.
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this → estimate → children
The Resolution Foundation estimates this would cost £2bn a year.
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this → estimate → 2bn
Campaigners will focus on the LHA gap – the consequence of years of austerity and rising private rents – in the run-up to next month’s budget, arguing it is an effective way to give low-income families “breathing space” from cost of living pressures.
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it → focus → pressures
Beatrice Orchard, the head of policy at Trussell, said: “Nobody should be forced to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table.
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Nobody → say → table
But for increasing numbers of UK renters, this is already a bleak reality.
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this → increase → renters
Keeping LHA frozen while rents rise is driving people to food banks.”
Governments have often been reluctant to match rents and housing support, fearing landlords will simply put up rents, or that tenants will move to plusher rented homes.
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tenants → keep → homes
Braddock, who fears that her landlord is preparing to put up her rent, tightening her budget even further, disagrees: “If the local housing allowance matched the going rate for a two-bedroom or a one-bedroom [place] then people don’t need to move.
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people → fear → bedroom
It’ll just mean they don’t struggle to get through the month, because the rent’s being paid.
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rent → mean → month
“I don’t think the government understands …
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government → think → ?
From a parent’s point of view, you’ve got to think about keeping your kids safe and your kids warm.
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kids → get → kids
And they wonder why there’s an epidemic of mental health [concerns]”.
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they → wonder → health
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We’re tackling the impact of rising rents and the housing shortage with our commitment to build 1.5m homes – including the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation.
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We → say → generation
“Local housing allowance rates are reviewed annually, and future decisions will be taken in the context of the government’s welfare priorities, and the fiscal context.”
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decisions → review → priorities
The Aporia
