AQW 6855/22-27 Written question to the Minister for Communities
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the mechanism by which recipients of housing assistance will be protected from the planned 7.7 per cent rise in social housing rent in 2024-25.
Asked by Claire Sugden MLA on 19 February 2024
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 19 February 2024
- Answer due by
- 5 March 2024
- Answered
- 29 February 202410 days after tabling
- Department
- Department for Communities
- Priority question
- No
Answer
Housing assistance is provided through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit. From April 2023, most social security benefits, including personal allowances and premia in Housing Benefit, were increased by 10.1%. From April 2024 they will be increased by a further 6.7%.
Additional support is available through Social Sector Size Criteria Welfare Supplementary Payments and the Discretionary Housing Payment Scheme. Collectively these measures will help protect recipients of housing assistance from the planned rise in social housing rent in 2024/25.