Pensioners failed by the benefits system, and more: Current barriers to ending homelessness

Quarterly Frontline Snapshot – December 2024 

Glass Door’s year-round casework service operates out of partnering day centres in West and South West London, providing expert advice and support to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Our open access policy means that no matter who you are or where you are from, you can turn to us for support. 

Welcome to our second Quarterly Frontline Snapshot – highlighting current barriers to securing safe and stable accommodation for guests experiencing or at risk of homelessness this winter. 

What are some of the biggest barriers our guests and caseworkers currently face? 

Our first Quarterly Frontline Snapshot was published in September and discussed three of the main barriers that guests and caseworkers were experiencing when trying to find permanent housing. The three barriers we talked about were under-35s getting stuck in supported housing, retaliatory section 21 evictions, and the benefit cap.  

While these barriers are still present for our caseworkers, there are additional patterns being noticed on the frontline. In this snapshot, we’ll discuss the most frequent barriers to supporting guests into accommodation that we’re seeing as we settle into the beginning of winter. 

The benefits system is failing pensioners  

I’ve seen quite a few people of pension-age sofa-surfing or intermittently rough sleeping on the streets of London.

– Rodrigo, Caseworker at Glass Door 

One thing that our caseworkers are unfortunately seeing regularly is pensioners who are being threatened with homelessness for the first time. This is due to a flaw in the benefits system, where the type of benefits that people receive switches when they reach pension age.  

Essentially, when you’re at working age, you’re entitled to Universal Credit, but once you reach pension age, this changes to Housing Benefit and Pension Credit. While Universal Credit entitles you to the one-bedroom rate as long as you’re over 35, Housing Benefit does not have the same entitlement. 

This sudden drop in benefits allowance means that people are often unable to pay their rent and bills once they reach pension age, and this can lead to homelessness. In addition, becoming elderly often leads to more financial outgoings, including medical expenses and care costs, so this drop in benefits allowance hits some pensioners extra hard. 

Pensioners are able to apply for Pension Credit before their benefit entitlement changes, to lessen the impact of the switch, but many people are not properly informed about this. 

“Some guests I’ve worked with are on Universal Credit before reaching pension-age, but didn’t know they needed to apply for Pension Credit. The Department of Work and Pensions send people letters letting them know when they reach that age, but the letters do not reach those in informal tenancies.” 

– Gemma, Senior Caseworker and Service Development Lead 

There’s a lack of landlord accountability 

Another issue that our caseworkers are seeing again and again is a lack of landlord accountability. This can come in the form of regular and unfair rent increases, a lack of transparency about how tenants’ money is spent, and an unwillingness to resolve issues raised by tenants, even when those issues are causing health and safety problems.  

There are no real proper avenues to report problems like black mould. You might be ignored, and in some cases, I’ve seen tenants be illegally evicted for reporting issues.

There’s a lack of accountability and transparency.

– Zara, Caseworker at Glass Door  

There are several reasons for this. For starters, anyone can become a landlord without having to undergo any training or checks, and this means that not everyone has the knowledge or desire to look after the properties they own, nor the tenants who live in them. 

Another reason is the lack of rent controls for landlords with private tenancies. Unless you’re a regulated or protected tenant, landlords can charge as much as they like for rent. This, coupled with landlords’ ability to choose independently who they want to rent to, means they have quite a lot of power. 

“There's almost no incentive for a landlord to make improvements. If they rent to people who are on benefits, they know exactly how much they can expect from Universal Credit or Housing Benefit payments.

This means that they will charge exactly that much, and it doesn't matter what the state of the place is – there's basically almost nothing that landlords are required to do in terms of improving a place to make it more habitable. 

– Andrew, Caseworker at Glass Door 

This lack of landlord accountability regularly results in homelessness for a variety of reasons. Tenants become unable to afford their rent, landlords allow properties to fall into disrepair until they become uninhabitable which forces the tenant out, and tenants are evicted illegally. 

Mental health support is limited 

The final barrier we’re highlighting is the limited mental health support available to guests. Unfortunately, poor mental health and homelessness often go hand-hand, with each one increasing the likelihood of the other. Mental health funding is not matching demand for services, and waiting lists have dramatically increased, making it difficult for caseworkers to refer guests to the appropriate secondary mental health services. 

"Without the support of mental health services, frontline workers at homeless charities like Glass Door have difficulty supporting guests with mental health issues to access stable and suitable accommodation. This can be for a range of reasons, including our guests relying on substances to cope when they are not receiving the mental health support they need, and missing important appointments due to the chaotic nature of their lives when they are rough sleeping.

This is all made worse by the lack of appropriate supported accommodation available.

– Alice, Senior Caseworker, Multiple Disadvantage at Glass Door 

Labour recently announced the creation of a new cross-government taskforce to reduce homelessness, which hopefully will improve the relationship between homelessness services and mental health services, but this currently remains to be seen. 

You can read September’s Quarterly Frontline Snapshot here, if you want to find out more about some of the other barriers our caseworkers regularly face.