Just 5% of private rentals affordable on housing benefit

It took Dave Lockyer six months to find a flat for himself and his son in Woking that he could afford on benefits. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian

Families on housing benefit are being driven to live in areas of high crime and low employment because only one in 20 private rented homes are now affordable – the lowest level on record, new analysis reveals.

A freeze on housing benefit rates since April 2020 and waves of rent hikes have pushed the number of homes on the market that can be paid for through welfare down from 23% in April 2020 to 5%, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Around 2 million households in England and Wales receive housing benefit.