More than a million households living in private rented accommodation risk becoming homeless by 2020, finds a June 2017 report by Shelter (pdf). And the most important factor here is the shortfall between housing benefit and the cost of private renting.
More than a million private renters in Britain claim housing benefit in order to help cover the cost of their rent. Since 2011, housing benefits have failed to rise in line with rising private rent.
Graeme Brown, interim chief executive at Shelter, said:
‘The current freeze on housing benefit is pushing hundreds of thousands of private renters dangerously close to breaking point at a time when homelessness is rising.’
Read the research brief (pdf) or the related Guardian report.
