The government’s move to exclude young people from receiving housing benefit could bar most of them from the private rental market, a landlords’ association has warned, as charities said the decision could leave thousands at risk of homelessness.

Amid widespread anger among charities at the decision to strip housing benefit entitlement from single people aged 18 to 21, the National Landlords Association (NLA) said one effect would be to put off most of its members from housing young tenants on benefits.



“The message that will go out from these changes is that 18- to 21-year-olds don’t have automatic entitlement to housing benefit,” said Richard Lambert, the NLA’s chief executive.

“Yes, there are all these exceptions in the actual policy, but the nuances won’t cut through. I wouldn’t go as far to say young people will be totally excluded, but they’re going to find it very, very difficult.”

The change, first mooted under David Cameron in 2012 and outlined in the 2015 Conservative party manifesto, was pushed through without fanfare in a ministerial directive to parliament late on Friday.

It means that from 1 April, new single claimants aged 18 to 21 will not be entitled to the housing element of universal credit unless they fall into certain categories.

The exceptions include people with children, or those where to continue living with their parents would bring a “serious risk to the renter’s physical or mental health” or would otherwise cause “significant harm”.

While such categories are broad, homelessness charities warned that to prove such potential harm would be so difficult that many young people would instead opt to sleep rough or sleep on friends’ sofas instead.

“As we’ve seen before, the bureaucracy of the welfare state is not good at capturing people in delicate situations,” said Kate Webb, head of policy for Shelter.

“This is particularly so if we’re talking about 18- or 19-year-olds who have suffered really unpleasant, very personal things at home, and don’t want to disclose that to someone.”



Webb said that even those who wished to claim the exception would struggle to find a landlord willing to take them on.

“If you’re a landlord now, every 18- to 21-year-old is a risk,” she said. “You have no reason to believe that someone will be eligible for an exemption. The idea this is going to work in practice is fanciful.



“It’s a real worry – there is no way this isn’t going to lead to an increase in rough sleeping.”

Balbir Chatrik, head of policy for Centrepoint, said the charity’s research indicated that the changes could put up to 9,000 young people at risk of being unable to find somewhere to live. The practicalities of the exemptions amounted to “a catch-22 problem”, Chatrik said.

“You can’t get your tenancy without first having access to housing support,” she said. “But you’ll need verification to say you will get housing support before any landlord will take you on. So you’re more likely to be out on the streets.



“It’s so ill-judged. The exemptions are going to be a nightmare to prove.”



Campaigners said the change was unlikely to save much money – one study put the maximum possible at £3.3m a year – given the small proportion of the welfare budget accounted for by young people. They said they were also baffled as to ministers’ decision to push through with a policy many people had predicted would be dropped just three weeks before it comes in, especially given an imminent revamp of general policy over homelessness.

Asked about the policy on Monday, Theresa May’s spokesman said it had been designed with “a number of exemptions”, and that it had been a long-standing policy commitment. He said: “The aim of it, as we have always stated, is to ensure that young people don’t go straight from school and on to a life of benefits.”