Solutions to high housing costs – the role of Discretionary Housing Payments

Improving access to support for low-income renters

Accessing affordable housing is a significant challenge across Wales. This problem is especially acute for low income households living in the rental sector. A number of support schemes have been put in place to support households with their housing costs. Our recent work on the housing crisis, however, has showed that people were often unable to get the help they need. This can be because the application process is unnecessarily complex or because of arbitrary spending limits.

Aims 

The aim of the project is to make it easier for people on low incomes to get and keep a decent home by developing practical proposals to change the help they receive with their housing costs. The primary focus of the project is improving the operation of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). 

What we are doing 

• Analysing data on DHP use in Wales
• Holding conversations with local authority officials working in housing and homelessness teams
• Holding conversations with key stakeholders from the broader housing sector  
• Gathering the views of people with lived experience of the DHP system

Key outputs 

None to date

Impacts 

None to date 

Funder 

The project is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.