The number of people in London living in bed and breakfast accommodation increased by 26% last year, as the supply of private rental accommodation reduced.
The rise has been caused by the number of housing benefit tenants in receipt of Local Housing Allowance whose landlords refused to lower the rent to the new caps which were brought in last April.
Figures from London Councils show that 1,680 people were registered by local authorities as living in bed and breakfasts from October to December 2011.
This was a 26% increase on first quarter of last year, when 1,330 people were living in bed and breakfast accommodation in the capital.
In a report to the Leaders’ Committee, London Councils warned that the shortage of affordable properties in the private rented sector, which is forcing councils to place homeless people in bed and breakfasts, is worsening.
It describes bed and breakfast accommodation as both a costly and unsatisfactory solution, with families forced to share facilities.
The report says the landlords’ refusal to chop rents to the new LHA levels has led to an acute shortage of private rented supply in some London boroughs.
It warns: “This situation is deteriorating and is expected to continue to deteriorate over the short to medium term.”
It also warns that the situation will worsen again when the Universal Credit Cap is introduced in April 2013, limiting the total amount families can claim in benefits to £500 a week.
This would mean that more low income households would have to move out of the private rented sector, as they would be unable to pay their rents.
London Councils’ executive member for housing, Mayor Sir Steve Bullock, said: “There is a housing crisis in London and it is vital that we look at how we can increase the supply of genuinely affordable accommodation to enable low income households to live in the capital.
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The latest figures show that there are 1,680 people in London living in bed and breakfasts and we fear this figure will rise as more and more people are forced to move because of the changes to housing benefit.
“This is shocking; we must make sure that the poorest people in London have somewhere permanent to live.”
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Comments
London has been overcrowed for decades. Need fewer people there in the first place, a total ban on unskilled, unwanted immigration swelling the ranks, and no extra benefits for more than two children.
Social housing and rent controls now!