Many of the private rented sector have welcomed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s announcement in his Budget speech of finally unfreezing the Local Housing Allowance and of course the ‘Usual Suspects’ in the shape of renters’ activists are far from won over.

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In the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement Hunt announced that from next year the LHA will be increased to the 30th percentile of local market rents which has been constantly called for by the majority of the sector during the three year freeze.

He stated that the increase will help more than 1.6 million renting households in both the private and social housing sectors and the increase financially equates to around £800 per year per LHA household.

Although chief exec of Generation Rent Ben Twomey does admit to the fact this will help one in three private tenant receiving benefits for housing, he does add that; “Not all renters will get the support we need from this announcement - families caught by the benefit cap won’t get an extra penny - and tenants who need to find a new place to live will still struggle to afford current market rents, which have risen much faster than even the new LHA rates.

“That means that if your landlord evicts you, you could still face having to go to the local council for homelessness support. We need more action from the government to reduce the number of evictions, build more homes in places people want to live, and to make sure that Local Housing Allowance keeps up with rents, rather than being frozen yet again.”

Surprisingly chief executive of housing charity Crisis Matt Downie is far more supportive of the increase.

He says: “The announcement to increase housing benefit is, in the short-term, the single biggest step the Chancellor could take to prevent and end homelessness for tens of thousands of households. Some 1.8 million private renters currently receive housing benefit in England alone, yet our research with Zoopla shows that just five per cent of properties in Great Britain are affordable to them.

“We’re pleased the Chancellor has finally listened to calls from the homelessness sector and councils and taken action to prevent more hardship.

“The three-year freeze on housing benefit has had devastating and far-reaching consequences, with people on the lowest incomes being completely priced out of renting. At the same time, we now have over 100,000 households in England alone trapped in temporary accommodation, while the number of people sleeping rough is climbing fast. Many councils are on the verge of financial collapse trying to cope with the demand.