Mortgages: Housing Benefit

(asked on 28th June 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2022 to Question 16929 on Mortgages: Housing Benefit, if he will make an estimate of the potential number of people that would benefit each year from the Government's proposed policy of allowing housing benefit to be used towards the cost of a mortgage; and what the evidential basis is for the assertion that this policy removes a barrier that currently prevents thousands of families from buying their own home.


Answered by
David Rutley Portrait
David Rutley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 5th July 2022

There are 5 million in receipt of housing support. The number of people who will benefit will depend on people’s personal circumstances and their choices.

Owning a home is a real aspiration for many and this policy supports that. The total bill for Housing Support stands at about £30 billion each year, and unless we take action, the Office for Budget Responsibility predict it could rise to around £50 billion by 2050. None of these huge sums are being put towards helping people to have the chance to buy their own homes. We want to change that, support home ownership and put taxpayer’s money to better use. We will look to change welfare rules so those who receive housing support will be given a new choice: to use their benefit towards mortgage payments for a new mortgage instead of simply on rent.

By making these changes to welfare we are moving homeownership to within reach of hard-working benefit recipients so they can make their own choices about whether to plan for home ownership in future.

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