Claims for local housing allowance by London tenants have more than doubled in the last three years.
Research firm the Whitehouse Consultancy asked 23 London councils, under the Freedom of Information Act, for LHA data in each of the last three financial years.
Their responses show that total claims for LHA, which is paid to housing benefit tenants living in private rental accommodation, increased from 71,440 in 2008-09 to 156,805 in the current year.
All the boroughs reported increases of 150% or more.
Hounslow had the biggest increase, of 410%, rising to 4,983 claims, and Southwark had the second biggest at 352%, taking LHA claimants to 3,558.
Chris Whitehouse, managing director of the Whitehouse Consultancy, said: “These figures show that no area of London is being left untouched by the difficult economic conditions of the last few years.”
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