WITHOUT roofs over their heads, certain households can appeal to be put up by their local authority. Families with children, expectant mothers and those escaping domestic violence all have a legal right to emergency accommodation. After the Labour government imposed a target on councils to reduce these numbers in 2004, the number of households in this position fell to a record low at the end of the decade. But lately it has been creeping back up. At the end of March, 64,610 households in England were living in council-provided temporary housing, a quarter more than in 2010 (see chart).
A growing proportion are being put up in the private sector. In the past, councils would lease homes from private landlords for periods of up to five years, subletting them to tenants and providing the landlord with a guaranteed rental income of about 70% of the market rate. But as demand for housing has boomed and rents have soared, that sort of arrangement has become less attractive to landlords. So councils have begun to send applicants directly to private providers.
A change to the law has made this easier. Previously, those entitled to...Continue reading
via Brian Rushton, Mean streets
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