Western Morning News (Saturday)

Poverty trap warning as home rental costs spiral

- JEMMA CREW wmnnewsdes­k@reachplc.com

LOW-INCOME renters in the South West are falling into a “housing black hole”, with new analysis suggesting that fewer than one in eight homes listed for rent are affordable to those receiving housing benefit.

Spiralling rents, coupled with a freeze on housing benefit, have led to a “huge shortfall” in affordable homes in England, say the homelessne­ss charity Crisis and the property listing portal Zoopla. This growing gap is pushing thousands of renters to breaking point as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, they warn.

Factoring in the chronic shortage of rented homes, they say it is likely many more people will be driven from their homes, with evictions and homelessne­ss already rising.

Crisis and Zoopla are calling for the Government to raise housing benefit at the autumn budget if it wants to prevent thousands from being pushed into homelessne­ss.

The groups carried out joint research, analysing new listings for one, two and three-bed properties for rent on Zoopla between May 2021 and April 2022.

It found that just 12% of properties were affordable to people receiving housing benefit, leaving renters “facing a housing black hole”.

The problem was most acute for one-bed homes, with nearly half of local authority areas in England having fewer than 20 truly affordable one-bed properties listed over the year.

The proportion of affordable homes varied across the country, with the south West and the East Midlands having the fewest affordable homes listed.

At the start of this year, around 1.2 million private renters in England were relying on housing benefit, official figures show. Average monthly rental prices are now 12% higher than they were before the pandemic.

At the start of the coronaviru­s pandemic, housing benefit levels were set to cover the cheapest third of rents in each local area, based on rents from 2018-19, but have been frozen since March 2020. The research indicates the gap between housing benefit payments and rents are more than double what the most recent Government data suggests.

Renters receiving housing benefit must find, on average per year, an additional £648 for a one-bed, £1,052 for a two-bed and £1,6554 for a threebed, the new analysis suggests. This compares to £313, £371 and £498, respective­ly, according to figures from the Valuation Office Agency in January 2022, based on rents data in the year to September 2021.

Matt Downie, Crisis chief executive, said: “It is deeply troubling that the poorest households in England are being forced to fight over a meagre number of affordable homes or stump up thousands they simply don’t have in order to find somewhere to live.

“We cannot sit idly by as people are left to battle against an increasing­ly turbulent and suffocatin­g rental market while housing benefit – the only lifeline they have – is patently insufficie­nt and unable to meet their needs.”

A Government spokesman said: “During the pandemic we increased Local Housing Allowance significan­tly and beyond inflation.”

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