Councils to move LHA claimants out of London

The year of reckoning

Homeless households rise 17 per cent in 12 months

The number of homeless households will continue to rise as the economic downturn and benefit reforms bite, according to new research.

Councils forced to call on B&Bs

Councils in London are being forced to place more people in emergency accommodation as tenants are squeezed out of private rented sector housing.

Last Christmas with the kids

Changes to local housing allowance could block separated parents from having access to their children. Lydia Stockdale speaks to one father facing up to a lonely new year

Benefit caps to make 800,000 homes unaffordable

Caps to housing welfare payments that come into force this week will contribute to 800,000 private rented homes becoming unaffordable.

Going spare

The government’s contentious ‘bedroom tax’ on under-occupying tenants is set to become law this month. Alex Turner looks at the disproportionate effect it’s likely to have in the north

Casting the net for a home

A website aimed solely at local housing allowance claimants is helping people find homes. Lydia Stockdale logs on

Not a sticking plaster

Efforts to tackle anti-social behaviour can seem like fire fighting. It’s expensive to take a more comprehensive and long-term approach by working with a single family to get to the root of their problems. But, as Tony Powell, executive director of neighbourhoods at New Charter Housing Trust, explains, the effect can be transformative.

Cheaper by the Durkan

The contractor charged with giving an east London estate a facelift also threw in comprehensive energy retrofitting - at no extra cost. Jess McCabe finds out more

New criteria

A Court of Appeal ruling has defined what constitutes sheltered accommodation, says Robert Wassall