Crisis and Resilience Fund - Housing Payments

A Housing Payment may be awarded when the Council considers that a customer requires further financial assistance towards housing costs and is in receipt of either Housing Benefit (HB) or Universal Credit (UC) with the housing element included. It is paid from a limited government fund, where your current benefit award does not fully cover your rent.

• Do you receive housing benefit to help you pay your rent?
• Is the amount you receive not enough to cover your rent?
• Do you struggle to keep up with the extra payments you must make to stay out of rent arrears?

If you answered yes to all these questions then a Crisis and Resilience Fund - Housing Payment may be able to help you. You can apply if you are affected by the Benefit Cap, or if you receive Universal Credit (housing element). You can also apply if you need help with the rent deposit on a new home, or the costs of moving to an affordable home.

Payments are to help with a short term problem and if granted will be for a fixed time period.

How to apply

You can apply online. 

Apply for Crisis and Resilience Fund - Housing Payment

Housing Payments are made at our discretion. There are no rules that give anyone the right to receive a payment and each application will be considered on its own merits.

You will need to demonstrate you do not have the means to pay the shortfall in your rent and you have not intentionally taken on a tenancy that you knew you could not afford. In order for the award to be considered we may need to ask you for some additional information, which some people may find to be intrusive. However it is important to remember that we will only ask for information that is necessary to help us to make a decision on your application.

The length of time that an award will be made for will vary depending on the individual circumstances of the person applying, however it will only be for a short period of time, to give you the opportunity to make alternative arrangements to cover the shortfall in your rent.