• Only 0.7% of private rental homes on the market in Wales during 2025/2026 were affordable to households relying on housing benefit. 
• While there are significant issues with a severe shortage of affordable rental homes across Great Britain, there are even fewer affordable private rental homes for Welsh house hunters on low incomes than in any other British nation. 
• The shortfall between housing benefit and real-world rents leaves the poorest households having to scrape together thousands of pounds each year to keep a roof over their heads.

New figures released today by homelessness charity Crisis, and developed in collaboration with property website Zoopla, reveal that housing benefit is now shockingly out of touch with the true cost of renting a private home in Wales.

The report published by Crisis Cymru today shows that, over the last financial year, just 0.7% of private rental properties on the market in Wales were affordable for people who rely on housing benefit. This figure has fallen even further from the 1.0% of affordable rental properties on the market in Wales in 2024/25. 

With housing benefit failing to keep pace with real world rents, it’s near impossible across Great Britain for house hunters to find a private rental home that can be afforded on housing benefit alone. However, the scarcity of affordable rental homes is the most stark in Wales. In England, just 1.8% of private rental homes on the market were available within housing benefit rates (compared to the 0.7% in Wales). Meanwhile in Scotland, this figure stands at 5.5%.  

The research also reveals that, across the cheapest third of private rental homes advertised in Wales, people on the lowest incomes would still have to scrape together an extra £2,000-£4,000 on top of housing benefit each year to meet the true cost of renting. 

Crisis Cymru is concerned that the lack of affordable private rental homes in Wales is further contributing to high levels of homelessness in the country. Indeed, the latest Welsh Government statistics show more than 13,000 households are experiencing homelessness with around 10,500 people trapped in temporary accommodation each month.¹ As social housing waiting lists exceed 90,000 households,² people are turning to the private rental sector to find a stable home, but finding the costs impossibly out of reach. 

The charity is now calling on the UK Government to take urgent action to restore housing benefit to cover the true cost of rent. The UK Government sets the Local Housing Allowance which determines how much housing benefit people can receive across different areas of Great Britain. However, since 2012, local housing allowance rates have been subject to cuts and frozen for long periods by successive governments – with rates having been frozen since an uplift in April 2024.

Debbie Thomas, Head of Policy and Communications at Crisis Cymru said: 

“These new statistics paint a very bleak picture for Wales. Everyone needs a stable place to call home, but for thousands of people, this basic necessity feels impossibly out of reach.

“Housing benefit was designed to help people on the lowest incomes to pay for a private rental home. While it was intended to cover the cost of the cheapest 30% of homes on the rental market, it now fails to cover the cost of even 1% of homes for private rent in Wales.

“With homelessness levels so high in Wales, we are looking to the Welsh Government to fulfil its pledges to alleviate homelessness by boosting the number of much needed affordable social homes and putting the newly passed homelessness legislation into practice. However, we cannot ignore that the freeze on housing benefit is also creating a key pressure point which is leaving thousands of people across Wales trapped in the trauma of homelessness.

“It’s essential that the UK Government takes decisive action to restore housing benefit so that it covers the true cost of rent.”

Richard Donnell, Executive Director at Zoopla said:  

“It’s crystal clear that we desperately need more affordable homes in Wales, and across Great Britain. With fierce demand for affordable private rental homes and so few available on the market – people on lower incomes are facing impossible situations.

“Uprating housing benefit so that it is properly linked to rent levels is essential. Otherwise, more people will be forced from the private rented sector into homelessness.” 

ENDS

Notes to editors

The statistics within the new Crisis Cymru report are derived from analysis of the advertised cost of 18,642 private homes listed for rent in Wales on the property website Zoopla during the 2025/26 financial year.