Housing

Sixty-two per cent of all households (or ‘benefit units’) get at least one form of state support, including tax credits, retirement pension and child benefit, according to the latest official survey results for 2010/11. This is broadly similar to the previous year.

The Family Resources Survey, which interviewed 25,000 households in 2010/11, collects information on the incomes and circumstances of private households in the UK.

Just over two-thirds of housing benefit claimants in the private rented sector (and 8 out of 10 new claimants) face a ‘shortfall’ between their local housing allowance (LHA) and their rent, according to new research.

Sheffield Hallam University researchers examined the initial reactions of tenants and landlords to cuts in LHAs introduced in April 2011. From that date rates were capped at £250 per week for a one-bedroom property, rising to £400 per week for four bedrooms or more. The five-bedroom rate was scrapped. In addition, from October 2011, LHAs were set at the 30th percentile of local rents rather than the median (average).

The aim of this paper is to provide the rationale for the aspects of work that need to be covered, and to identify suitable questions for the main PSE survey to gather the required data. Where possible, it will look to build on questions and instruments that have been used in previous surveys, and to use standardised definitions where these exist. When looking at paid work, data from two large surveys on employment quality are analysed to assess the suitability of various indicators.

This paper discusses indicators to housing and the living environment, Domain 10 of the Bristol Social Exclusion Matrix (BSEM), for use in the Poverty and Social Exclusion survey. Indicators that capture the relationship between poverty and housing must give a good picture of the following main areas: the physical quality of housing; the degree of (over)crowdedness; the suitability for the specific needs of the household; the security of tenure and the affordability of housing. The effect of housing on other measures of poverty and social exclusion extend to the quality of the neighbourhood and the wider area in which housing is located, referred to as the living environment, which will be measured through various indicators of neighbourhood quality.