The government says that changes coming in this month will mean young people leaving care and domestic abuse survivors will be exempt them from rules that restrict access to social housing for those that do not have a connection to their local area.

The change applies to all councils in England, nearly 90% of which currently use local connection criteria to determine who qualifies for social housing and follows reforms last year to remove barriers for all former UK Armed Forces Veterans.

Under the new rules, care leavers under the age of 25 and domestic abuse survivors will no longer be penalised for not having a local connection when applying for social housing.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner said:“It breaks my heart to hear countless stories of people leaving the care system or fleeing an abusive relationship and not having a place they can truly call home. We’re rewriting the rules to help get them a roof over their heads and the security they deserve.

“Our changes will make sure these vulnerable groups do not face unfair barriers to safe and secure housing. This is backed by our commitment to secure the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, and through our Plan for Change we are going further and faster to make this a reality.”

Last year Rayner wrote to local councils reminding them of their obligations to prioritise vulnerable groups for social housing. Government guidance will be updated to reflect these changes.

Additional support includes:

  • £160 million for councils to help provide safe accommodation and support for domestic abuse survivors and meet their statutory duty to help victims and their children when they need it the most – increased by £30 million this year
  • New legislation proposed to ensure young care leavers in scope of the council’s corporate parenting duty have access to housing and cannot be considered ‘intentionally homeless’
  • An £800 million top-up for the current Affordable Homes Programme to ramp up the delivery of new social homes
  • Proposed right to buy reforms to protect council housing stock and a new 10-year social rent settlement to give the sector the certainty it needs to build more social homes.

CEO of Become, Katharine Sacks-Jones, said: “We welcome these new regulations that will allow more care leavers to access social housing where they are. Too many children in care are moved away from the people and places that matter to them and then made to move back to their local authority area once they turn 18 to access social housing support.

“Removing the local connection test will prevent forced moves, could help reduce homelessness and give care leavers a more positive start to adulthood.”

Director of Policy and Prevention at Centrepoint Balbir Kaur Chatrik said: “Removing this barrier will reduce homelessness and rough sleeping amongst care leavers and help them to thrive.

“Care leavers are often extremely vulnerable young people and lack the support networks that many of us take for granted. Despite this they often find it a real struggle to access the stable housing they need to thrive because they lack a local connection. The government’s change will hopefully stop this practice and ensure young people can get the stable and affordable homes they deserve.

“It’s also an important step towards ending youth homelessness and protecting the most vulnerable. Taken together with funding for prevention and housebuilding, this brings us a bit closer over the short- and long-term towards ensuring young people are getting the support they need.”