Councillor Sarah Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning (Deputy Leader), approved a new approach to setting rent levels for temporary accommodation¹ (TA) within the borough, as well as the rent levels proposed for 2025/26. The new approach aims to create uniformity and fairness across different types of temporary accommodation, and to ensure that rent levels are reviewed annually as part of the budget setting process.

Temporary Accommodation Rent Setting Approach

Councillor Sarah Williams approved the new Temporary Accommodation Rent Setting Policy and the proposed rent levels for 2025/26. The report considered sought to update the rents and charges for stock held in the General Fund².

The council had last reviewed and formalised rent setting for temporary accommodation in April 2017. This review covered rents in properties used as temporary accommodation in both the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and General Fund. In February 2025, the rents and charges for HRA properties were updated in the 2024/25 Budget report, but rents for temporary accommodation held in the General Fund were not part of this approval process. The new Temporary Accommodation Rent Setting Policy aims to update the rents and charges for General Fund temporary accommodation to ensure a fair and transparent approach for rent setting in all types of temporary accommodation.

The updated policy will create uniformity between rent levels for temporary accommodation leased and licenced to the council, rent levels for temporary accommodation held by Homes for Haringey, and rent levels for those offered a private sector tenancy. The council also benchmarked with other boroughs and found that this approach is similar to the rent setting policies applied or being considered elsewhere.

Alternative Options Considered

The council considered, but rejected, the following alternative options:

• Not updating the rents and charges: This option was rejected because rents for General Fund accommodation have not been updated since 2011/12 and not reviewed since 2017. Not updating them would maintain the disparity between rents in leased and licenced temporary accommodation with other tenure types.
• Only apply higher rents to new tenants/licensees: This option was rejected as it would create further disparity in rents for tenants in similar types of properties.

Rents in General Fund Lodges

The council owns three lodges, one of which is held in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). It was proposed to converge the rent setting approach to council owned lodges to that of secure tenancies³ – that is, to set Licence fees ('rents') at the maximum levels permitted by the Rent Standard⁴. As the lodges are shared accommodation, this equates to formula rent + 10%.

For existing tenants, licence fees ('rents') will be increased annually in line with the maximum increase determined by the Rent Standard, currently CPI⁵ + 1%. For new residents occupying a single room, the licence fee (rent ) will be set at the formula rent plus 10%.

For all residents, the Housing Benefit eligible service charge fee will be updated to cover the full cost of providing those services are recharged, and to come into effect at the same time as the licence fee increases. Service charges will be charged on the basis of the number of rooms they occupy, and residents who occupy more than one room will be charged more than one service charge.

Under the new policy, new residents or those transferring to new rooms will have licence fees calculated on the size and configuration of each room with estimated total charges (including service charges) of between around £230 to £430 per room per week. These charges will be fully eligible for Housing Benefit where this is payable.

Rents for Hotels and Bed & Breakfast

The licence fees (rent ) for Hotels and Bed & Breakfast are also currently set at the 2011 LHA⁶ plus £40 per week for a one bed. It was not proposed to increase these charges as it is the council's intention to reduce the use of this type of accommodation.

Rents/licence fees for properties leased/licensed from private landlords for less than 10 years

The council currently leases or licences around 1,900 homes from private owners or their agents which are then let to homeless households as temporary accommodation. For these homes, the current policy sets rents at the maximum DWP⁷ subsidy rate (90% of the 2011 LHA) plus an additional £40 per week.

It was proposed to converge the rents for leased and licenced homes to the same level to create a consistent rent setting approach and to ensure that there are no disincentives to move on to private accommodation. The new rents will depend on the number of bedrooms in the property and the LHA in the property's location.

Effect on those currently receiving full and partial Housing Benefit

Where residents are in receipt of full Housing Benefit, these changes will have no impact on residents who will continue to have their full rent paid. Similarly, those who are expected to contribute to the rent due to their financial circumstances will not be expected to contribute more as Housing Benefit will increase to cover the increase in rent.

Effect on those currently receiving no Housing Benefit

Unlike residents who are on full or partial Housing Benefit, those who are not currently receiving Housing Benefit will be expected to pay some if not all of the increase. As of 26 February 2025, around a quarter of those in leased/licenced properties (497 households) were not in receipt of Housing Benefit, but only 6 households in the council's three lodges.

These households will be given access to the financial support team and signposting to other agencies for benefit maximisation where applicable. They may also be eligible to apply for Discretionary Housing Benefit where the shortfall in Housing Benefit is due to non-income/savings related reasons.

Effect on Council income

The council currently has 1,900 properties which are leased or licensed from private landlords and 92 rooms in the three lodges, two of which are held in the General Fund and one in the Housing Revenue Account. The proposed rent increases are expected to increase the potential annual income to £27.7 million after the Benefit Subsidy shortfall is taken into account. After mitigations and risks, the additional net income from the changes in rent policy are anticipated to reduce the cost to the council of providing temporary accommodation by £450k to £750k in 2025/26 and £600k to £1 million in 2026/27.

Residents affected by these increases will be notified with 28 days' notice. Due to the contractual nature of the tenancy agreements for tenants in leased properties, these increases will require the ending of the current tenancy and the issuing of a new tenancy agreement specifying the new rent levels. This process is not intended to lead to any tenant being removed from their current accommodation.

Contribution to the Corporate Delivery Plan 2022-2024 High level Strategic outcomes

This work relates to the Reliable, customer focused resident housing services theme within the Corporate Delivery Plan. The activity area it relates to is: to undertake a full review of all our policies relating to out tenants and leaseholders in our role as their landlord.

Statutory Officer Comments

The Director of Legal and Governance confirmed that there was no legal reason why the Cabinet should not adopt the recommendations made in this report.

The service is recommending an increase to the rent and service charges for the lodges. This is estimated to generate additional income of £20k in 2025/26 and £70k in 2026/27. The service is also recommending an increase of £80 per week on average to the rents for tenants in properties leased/licensed from private landlords. This is estimated to generate additional income of between £450k to £750k in 2025/26 (£600k to £1 million in a 12 month period) from DWP and self-payers.

Strategic Procurement have no objections to the recommendations in the report.

The Equalities Impact Assessment reveals that there will be a disproportionate effect of those who are over-represented among the Temporary Accommodation population compared to the borough. This includes young people (especially children of the tenants), and those from black ethnicity. As described in the report, there will be no impact on those who are in receipt of Housing Benefit (other than the nominal 50 pence) and so the impact will be felt by those who are financially more resilient.

Equalities Impact Assessment

Councillor Sarah Williams noted the Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA). The proposed policy aims to align rents charged to residents living in temporary accommodation with other types of housing provision.

The scope of the proposal is limited to properties which are held in the General Fund, and those which are leased or licensed to the council for less than 10 years. Rents for properties held in the HRA typically align with the Rent Standard issued by the Regulator of Social Housing. Properties held in the General Fund have historically had another purpose prior to their use as TA, and/or have a meanwhile use as TA pending longer-term plans for the site. Most properties procured by the council for use for TA are leased/licensed to the Council for less than 10 years. These properties are not subject to the Rent Standard as they are not owned by a registered provider of social housing. Rents are currently set at £40 per week above the January 2011 Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate in the area that the property is situated.

Summary of proposed policy:

Properties held in the General Fund (Broadwater Lodge, Whitehall Lodge):

The rent for current residents in the Council owned Lodges will continue at the existing rent plus an annual increase determined by the Rent Standard of CPI+1%, this year 2.7%, For new residents, rents will be set at the full formula rent + 10%. This will bring the General Fund Lodges into line with the Lodge held in the Housing Revenue Account.

For all residents, there will be an increase in service charges to full cost of delivering those services. All rents and service charges will be eligible for housing benefit.

Rents in properties leased/licensed to the Council for less than 10 years. This includes private sector leased (PSL), and nightly paid annexes (NPA):

Rents will be set at the full Local Housing Allowance (LHA), determined by the size of the property. Rents are currently set at £40 per week above the January 2011 local LHA rate. This will apply to new and existing tenants.

There is an important distinction between households in receipt of Housing Benefit (HB) and those that are not. The proposed rent increases would not directly affect any household in receipt of partial Housing Benefit save for those receiving the nominal 50 pence. However, residents will be affected by the proposal if they are not in receipt of Housing Benefit for whatever reason.

Summary of impacts

In general families with children and residents identifying as Black are overrepresented in the TA population relative to the borough average and so may be more likely to be negatively impacted by the proposed rent increases. For households in receipt of HB, however, the scale of this impact would be mitigated since it would be covered by the relevant benefit.

Around a third of households in TA are listed as not currently claiming Housing Benefit. This includes 95 households where one of the residents has a disability of which are under the age of 18. Many of these may be eligible for HB and a targeted approach should be undertaken to mitigate any future impact.

Age

Households currently living in most types of TA are significantly younger than the borough average. This reflects the fact that families with dependent children that are experiencing homelessness will ordinarily be placed into TA due to priority need.

Disability

Locally held information suggests that residents living in TA with a disability have a similar likelihood of being in a self-paying household – who would be most affected by the proposed policy – compared to other households. Therefore, the proposed policy will likely have a neutral impact overall with respect to the protected characteristic of disability.

Gender Reassignment

Due to a lack of suitable and reliable information we are unable to determine what the impact of this policy will have on residents of a given gender identity. However, there is no current reason to believe that the impact on residents with this protected characteristic will be disproportionately felt compared to cisgender residents.

Marriage and Civil Partnership

A lack of suitable data limits the proper assessment of any potential disproportionality of residents in temporary accommodation based on marital status. Nevertheless, the proposed policy and mitigations will apply equally to all residents regardless of their marital status. Therefore, the proposed policy is likely to have a neutral impact with respect to this protected characteristic.

Pregnancy and Maternity

Although the policy is likely to negatively impact households not in receipt of Housing Benefit, the data available suggest women who are pregnant or have recently given birth are not disproportionately represented. The policy is therefore likely to have a neutral impact for this group.

Race

There is an overrepresentation of residents from ethnic minority backgrounds amongst the current temporary accommodation tenants in Haringey relative to the borough average. This means that the changes resulting from the proposed policy will have a disproportionate impact on ethnic minority communities. However, it should be noted that this impact is not specifically as a result of their protected characteristic of race, but rather due to a demographic overrepresentation within the current cohort of temporary accommodation tenants. The proposed policy does not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, and mitigations available to the wider cohort (for households in receipt of HB) are equally available to all racial and ethnic groups.

Religion or belief

The proposed policy may have a disproportionately negative impact for residents following a belief, likely as an indirect consequence of certain ethnic groups being proportionately over-represented in TA relative to the borough average. We are, however, unable to determine conclusively whether this is the case due to incomplete recording of belief. The proposed policy does not discriminate on the basis of religion, and mitigations available to the wider cohort (for households in receipt of HB) are equally available to all religious groups.

Sex

There is an overrepresentation of residents identifying as female (and especially those with children) amongst the current temporary accommodation tenants in Haringey relative to the borough average. This means that the changes resulting from the proposed policy will have a disproportionate impact on women. However, it should be noted that this impact is not specifically as a result of their protected characteristic of sex, but rather due to a demographic overrepresentation within the current cohort of temporary accommodation tenants. The proposed policy does not discriminate on the basis of sex, and mitigations available to the wider cohort (for households in receipt of HB) are equally available to all residents.

Sexual Orientation

We are unable to determine conclusively what the impact will be due to incomplete data.

Socioeconomic Status

There is limited data on a household's socio-economic status and the site of their current TA is determined by where the council can secure affordable accommodation rather than the economic status of the household as would be the case with private tenancies and home ownership. It is therefore difficult to assess the impact. However, those who are on lower incomes are more likely to be on Housing Benefits and so not affected by the change. Conversely, those on higher incomes are less likely to be on HB and so more likely to be negatively affected.

Amendments and mitigations

No actions are proposed at this time, but a Mitigation Fund will be considered as part of the annual review. The policy will be reviewed annually as part of the annual budget review which will consider the impact on residents. This may include the creation of a Mitigation Fund to help those who are unduly affected by the policy.