Almost half a million households are at high risk of
becoming homeless as a result of the economic impact of the
coronavirus crisis, new analysis for the District Councils’
Network reveals today.
The DCN, which represents 187 councils responsible
for tackling homelessness, is calling for the housing crisis to
take centre stage in the Government’s exit strategy in order to
prevent a huge surge in homeless households as incomes fall as a
result of changes to people’s employment circumstances during the
pandemic.
Families at risk are likely to include lower earners
that are on the frontline helping fight the coronavirus crisis
across the health, food and logistic sectors.
New analysis reveals that there are 486,242
households paying over half of all their income on private rented
housing, and could be most at risk as incomes fall and the
current ban on evictions is lifted.
Within this large half a million group, councils are
especially concerned for:
-
108,000 lone parents with children, representing 20
per cent of all lone parents renting in the private
sector
-
100,000 16-to-24 year olds, almost 20 per cent of
all young people renting in the private rented
sector
-
160,000 households with incomes less than
£15,000
Despite the important additional help from the
Government more people are already approaching councils at risk
of homelessness, who are working around the clock to help those
hit hardest, and are expecting this to increase even more once
the health emergency subsides.
The DCN is calling on the Government to take action
now on the housing crisis to protect the most vulnerable and to
prevent a homelessness peak in the months ahead.
It said government should commit to: permanently lift housing
benefit for tenants in private rented housing; increase funding
for councils to prevent homelessness; invest in a renaissance of
council house building to create homes, jobs and growth, and
review the financial support given to businesses so that it
incentivises them to retain and create jobs.
Councils are working flat out helping those that need
help to try and prevent a homelessness spike - through
administering the hardship fund, helping people access benefits,
working with landlords, supporting food banks and
more.
But it
is becoming more difficult as the demand increases and council
incomes plummet, councils will need more tools and
funding to
help stave off a huge rise
in homelessness in the coming months.
Cllr Giles Archibald, DCN Better Lives spokesperson,
said:
“Many families were already struggling to keep a roof
over their heads before the coronavirus struck, including people
now on the frontline beating this crisis, lone parents, low
earners and young people.
“We have grave concerns that the huge impact on jobs
and incomes could send many of these half a million families over
the edge and into homelessness in the coming months, particularly
those struggling to pay their rent in the private rented
sector.
“Councils, landlords, charities and other partners
are all working hard now to avoid people becoming homeless,
however we are in unprecedented times and have grave concerns for
the months ahead.
“The Government has already rightly acted to support
businesses and residents, but to avert a huge rise in
homelessness it must now put the housing crisis at the centre of
its exit strategy and recovery effort to support people as the
scale of the economic impact becomes clearer.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Full breakdown of the analysis used for this press
release available on request
|
Households spending between 50% - 100%
of their total income on housing costs, by
tenure
|
Number
|
% of the total household
group
|
|
Tenure
|
own outright
|
0
|
0.0%
|
|
own with mortgage
|
151,462
|
2.2%
|
|
privately rent
|
486,242
|
10.7%
|
|
rent from housing association
|
173,773
|
7.3%
|
|
rent from local authority
|
97,882
|
6.2%
|
The District Councils’ Network (DCN) is a cross-party
member led network providing a single voice to 187 district
councils. District councils in England deliver 86 out of 137
essential local government services to over 22 million people –
40 per cent of the population – and cover 68 per cent of the
country by area. They play a key role in local communities,
providing services such as building homes, collecting waste,
regenerating town centres, preventing homelessness, keeping
streets clean and maintaining parks.
