The government has named the 10 councils that will pilot its standard local housing allowance scheme.
The £20m scheme, announced last week, will encourage tenants on benefits to "shop around" for lower rents (HT 24 October, page 11).

A flat rate of housing benefit will be paid to private tenants, set at the rate the local rent officer believes is medium for that area.

Tenants paying lower rents will be able to keep the difference; those with higher rents must make up the shortfall from their own pockets.

Brighton & Hove, Coventry, Conwy, Edinburgh, Lewisham, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Tendring, North-east Lincolnshire and Teignbridge councils have been chosen to test the scheme.

It could be rolled out nationally in 2005 if the pilots are successful.

The Department of Work and Pensions has invited the selected councils to set up pilots and will hold a conference next week to discuss the new allowances.

Andrew Smith, secretary of state for work and pensions, said the councils were chosen because of the range of housing markets they covered. "We need authorities with a big enough caseload of private deregulated tenants, and to make sure it's not overlapping with other initiatives like the pathfinders for tackling low demand," Smith said.

He rejected suggestions by critics that private landlords will raise rents to the level of the allowance. "If they put rents up, it will be open to the tenant, with the purchasing power they now have, to look for another landlord," he said.

Source

Housing Today