Richmond Council has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, calling on the government to unfreeze the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). 

LHA rates – which determine the maximum amount of support for their rent that low-income private renters can get – have been frozen since April 2020. 

Signed by the Council's Spokesperson for Housing, Cllr Jim Millard and Leader of the Council, Cllr Gareth Roberts, the letter to the Chancellor calls on the government to raise LHA to at least 30% of local market rents. 

Cllr Roberts said in the letter: "The continuing freeze on Local Housing Allowance is playing in rapidly growing homelessness presentations in the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames. 

"An estimated 1 in 13 private renters in the borough rely on LHA to cover housing costs but just 0.9% of rental properties in our borough fall within current LHA levels. 

"With homeless presentations soaring, and a temporary accommodation emergency across London putting huge pressure on Council finances and the ability of the Council to procure temporary accommodation in or near the borough." 

According to Big Issue, a total of 4,068 people sleeping rough were counted between July and September 2023 for the most recent quarterly update, a 12% increase from the previous year. Half of those counted were new to the streets.  

It adds: "We join the growing calls urging you to end the freeze on LHA rates, restoring them to cover at least 30% of local market rents." 

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The news comes ahead of today's Autumn Statement in the hopes to relieve the financial burden on councils and residents. 

The letter states: "As London Councils have convincingly set out, increasing LHA is the single fastest way that the government could help reverse the deeply concerning rise in homelessness in London, and across the country, and relieve the massive pressure building on councils' homelessness services." 

Richmond Council's letter follows the growing number of Council chiefs warning London now faces the most severe homelessness challenges in the country, with an estimated 170,000 people now living in temporary accommodation arranged by their local borough.   

According to SWNS, that equates to one in 50 residents of the capital, and one in every 23 children.