Vulnerable Britons are being used as "cash cows" by landlords accused of exploiting a housing benefit system while failing to provide adequate support, according to charities, politicians and tenants.
Known as supported exempt accommodation (SEA), the scheme helps vulnerable people, including former prisoners, people recovering from addiction and women fleeing domestic abuse, by providing housing alongside care and support. In Birmingham, the epicentre of the sector where more than 34,000 people live in SEA, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) paid out £410 million for SEA in the last financial year alone.
How the SEA scheme works
The housing is supposed to come with additional support, which makes it 'exempt' from caps on Local Housing Allowance to cover the costs. This allows providers to charge higher rents, which are covered 100% by the DWP through Housing Benefit.
For one resident, the registered provider for her accommodation, not-for-profit Dawson Housing, received £443 a week in housing benefit through Birmingham City Council to cover her room and support costs – around £23,000 a year, according to BBC Panorama.
Residents report poor conditions
A domestic abuse survivor who lived in three different SEA properties said she went eight days without heating or hot water after a boiler broke. She also claimed promised support sessions and practical help were not being delivered.
"On the [social media] adverts, they will often say that you have weekly support sessions, help with GPs. It's not the case at all, they're not interested. They come, they want you to sign a paper to say, yes, Alysha's gone to support [sessions] this week," she said.
Criticism from charities and politicians
Patricia Coleman-Taylor, who runs Birmingham anti-poverty charity Narthex, said vulnerable residents were being used as "cash cows to generate income" that flows from the DWP into "the back pocket of the landlords".
Homelessness charity Crisis previously warned that "due to a lack of meaningful oversight and regulation, many exempt providers are abusing the system for financial gain: providing little or no support, whilst leaving tenants in poorly managed, often dangerous accommodation".
Labour MP Jess Phillips described companies receiving public money while providing poor support as "an absolute catastrophe", warning that bad landlords "can make loads of money". However, she acknowledged that some providers were doing valuable work, adding that there are organisations that "get this money who are absolutely providing supported accommodation".
Council leader calls it a scandal
Birmingham City Council leader, Liberal Democrat councillor Roger Harmer, said: "Taxpayers' money is being wasted. It's a scandal."
£20 million from the Supported Housing Improvement Programme was awarded to 26 local authorities from 2022 to 2025 to target quality and value for money in supported housing.
