LGA statement: Resolution Foundation report on high housing costs and child poverty

Responding to a report by the Resolution Foundation, which says more than one in four children in poverty would not have been living below the poverty line in recent years were it not for high housing costs, Cllr Arooj Shah, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said;

“Tackling high housing costs to keep children and families out of poverty should be an absolute priority in the Government’s upcoming strategy, as this report demonstrates.

 “This should include unfreezing Local Housing Allowance rates to keep up with rising rents, to help prevent homelessness and people falling into poverty, alongside giving councils the powers and resources to address the national shortage of social and affordable housing.

“Councils also want to shift away from short term crisis support to invest in a more preventative, long-term approach, so they can understand the causes of poverty in their areas and how to reduce it, alongside improving people’s financial resilience and life chances, underpinned by a sufficiently-resourced national welfare system.”