How is the coronavirus crisis affecting Universal Credit and rent arrears?

The coronavirus outbreak is affecting everyone, including housing association residents who may be experiencing reduced or no income at the moment. This could lead to an increase in rent arrears.

To understand this further, we are running a short monthly survey to monitor the impact of coronavirus on rent arrears and any relationship this may have with Universal Credit.

If you work for a housing association, please share your views by completing our short survey. This survey should only take 5-10 minutes to complete.

Complete the survey

Please respond by 12pm on Monday 18 May. We will repeat the survey monthly.

Your views shape our work

We use the results from our Universal Credit surveys to shape our policy and lobbying work. When more housing associations respond to our surveys, we are better placed to accurately represent our members’ views.

Most recently, we used our survey response data to shape our submission to the House of Lord Economic Affairs Committee inquiry: The Economics of Universal Credit. Sue Ramsden, NHF Policy Leader also recently gave oral evidence to the committee remotely, representing the views of housing associations based on our members’ feedback.