The number of empty homes in England fell by the biggest ever annual drop in 2013 to 635,127, research has found.
According to today’s figures compiled by campaigning charity Empty Homes, the amount of empty homes in England decreased by 75,000 to 635,127 in 2013 – the lowest level ever recorded.
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins has welcomed an overall country-wide drop in homelessness figures, despite a rise in London.
The latest statistics from the Department for Communities and Local Government show that 12,890 applicants were accepted as homeless between 1 October and December 31 in England last year - a 5% drop on the same quarter in 2012.
Hundreds of tenants have escaped the impact of welfare reform, but their housing association landlord warns the real problem may be how tenants are paying.
Mark Rogers, chief executive of Circle Housing, said 20 per cent of its tenants who were hit by the bedroom tax, and 40 per cent of those hit by the overall benefit cap, were no longer affected by the changes.
A scheme which helps single homeless people into homes in the private rented sector is to be extended by two years, housing minister Kris Hopkins has announced.
Since its launch in 2010, the Crisis Private Rented Sector Access Development Programme has helped nearly 8,000 vulnerable people into homes.
Local Housing Allowance rates – the allowances paid to people claiming housing benefits - which will take effect from April this year have been published by the Department for Work and Pensions.
And a number of the 16 categories for shared bedroom and one, two and three bedroom properties have gone up - prompting criticism of landlords who "jumped the gun" and banned applicants on housing benefit.
The bedroom tax is helping to reduce child deprivation, ministers have claimed.
A new draft child poverty strategy for 2014 to 2017, which was launched by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith and education minister David Laws yesterday, lists the ‘removal of the spare room subsidy’ as one of the measures that is helping to improve the living standards of low-income families.
Housing benefits payments in four out of ten North East homes will rise this year – proving to one landlord that “blacklisting benefits tenants is beyond bonkers”
The Department for Work and Pensions this week published the Local Housing Allowance rates – the allowances paid to people claiming housing benefits - which will take effect from April this year.
Part-time workers judged to be doing too little to find full-time work face having their benefit for housing costs sanctioned by the government for the first time under universal credit.
Under the present system housing benefit is paid direct to landlords and sanctions can only be applied to out-of-work benefits, such as jobseeker’s allowance or employment support allowance.
The average London rent is now 102 per cent more than the national average, according to analysis released today.
According to BM Solutions, the average rent in the capital is now £1,417 per month whereas the national average is £701.
The average rental income for a landlord in London has reached an extraordinary £38,000 per year with a yield of an equally amazing 14.6 per cent, according to research from LSL Property Services.
These figures dwarf typical incomes for landlords in every other region of the UK in LSL's latest Buy To let index which shows - outside of the capital - very mixed results.
A daily average of 356 Londoners claiming Jobseeker's Allowance saw their benefits sanctioned in the year to September 2013, government figures have revealed.
The statistics, compiled by London Assembly Green Party member Jenny Jones, reveal that twice as many were sanctioned last year than in mayor Boris Johnson's first year in office.
Tens of thousands of people claiming housing benefit have been forced to “take action” and find work or move to a smaller home because of the so-called “bedroom tax”, Iain Duncan Smith has said.
Figures released by the Government show a 9 per cent fall in the number of housing benefit claimants facing a reduction in their housing benefit due to the removal of the spare room subsidy.
Two thirds of households affected by the bedroom tax cannot find money to pay their rents, according to the National Housing Federation.
A survey of 183 housing associations carried out for the Federation found that 66% of their residents hit by the bedroom tax are in rent arrears, with more than a third (38%) reported to be in debt because they were unable to pay the bedroom tax.
At least 3,000 tenants in the West Midlands are set to be eligible for rebates after having benefits wrongly cut because they have extra bedrooms.
Figures obtained from councils by the BBC show thousands have been wrongly charged the under-occupancy penalty - dubbed the "bedroom tax" by critics - since April last year.
The Government has pledged more money for housing benefit claimants who need extra support.
But specialist property portal Dssmove.co.uk said the £165million will not fix the underlying problem.
A Labour MP's bill calling for the bedroom tax to be scrapped will get a second reading after successfully passing its first hurdle.
Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery (pictured) yesterday introduced a 10-minute bill on scrapping the controversial under-occupation penalty, which was backed by 226 votes to one.
Two thirds of households hit by the bedroom tax have fallen into rent arrears, according to new research published today.
An Ipsos MORI survey of 183 housing associations carried out for the National Housing Federation found that 66% of their residents affected by the controversial policy are struggling to pay their rent, with more than a third (38%) reported to be in debt because they were unable to pay the bedroom tax.
The coalition’s policies aimed at cutting the social security bill have so far fallen disproportionately on the youth demographic (and disabled people), despite older people receiving 47 per cent of UK welfare spending through state pensions.
Scrapping housing benefit for under-25s is one key policy announced at the Conservative party conference last year. The Conservatives seem determined to cut the benefits bill for the 1.1 million young people aged 16-24 who are out of work, despite the lack of jobs for them to go into.
Two-thirds - 66% - of social sector tenants affected by benefit cuts for those with extra bedrooms were behind with rent after six months, a National Housing Federation survey suggests.
And it said 38% were in debt because of the "unfair, unworkable" policy change - dubbed the "bedroom tax" by critics.
The average Londoner needs to earn an extra £105,000 a year just to keep up with soaring house prices, a new report has revealed.
And housing charity Shelter's study - 'The house price gap' - shows that the average earner across England as a whole would need a £29,000 pay rise to keep up with escalating property prices.