ROOF Blog

Charities are urging the government to do more to help tenants, claiming 1.3 million low income households are struggling with their finances.

Shelter and the Money Advice Trust said 90 per cent of households earning under £20,000 (£25,000 in London) are in financial trouble, compared to 56 per cent in 2006.

They want the government to address affordability in the private rented sector and offer advice and support. Nearly 50 per cent of those in trouble had not received advice in the last year.

According to the survey carried out by the two charities, four out of 10 people on low incomes said their debts were impacting on their health – rising to 50 per cent among households with children.

It also found 60 per cent of households in receipt of housing benefits or local housing allowance received less than the cost of their rent.

Shelter director of policy and campaigns, Kay Boycott, said many tenants at the lower end of the private rented sector faced a ‘daily battle’ to ‘keep their heads above water’.

‘The government must recognise the significant role the private rented sector is playing in bearing the brunt of this recession by increasing funding for advice and support services, and setting out a long-term vision for the sector,’ she said.

The number of households in fuel poverty, where at least 10 per cent of income is spent on gas and electricity, rose by 15 per cent to four million in 2007, statistics from the Department for Energy and Climate Change show. A projection for this year suggests there are 6.6 million British homes in fuel poverty, almost treble the number five years ago. Campaigners said ministers would miss their target of removing all households containing the elderly, disabled and poor from fuel poverty by next year. The biggest factor in the increase is the doubling of energy prices since 2002. Responding to these figures, the government announced a four-step plan to help the fuel poor, including forcing suppliers to increase insulation, funding energy efficiency makeovers for 90,000 homes, making social tariffs compulsory and toughening regulation to combat ‘market abuse’.