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Morning Briefing: Universal Credit hardship linked to prostitution, MPs told

More women are being pushed into ‘survival sex’ due to the roll-out of Universal Credit, the North outstrips the South on property value growth, and all your other major housing stories of the day

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Morning Briefing: MPs told that Universal Credit is hardship linked to prostitution #ukhousing

Morning Briefing: North outstrips the South on property growth #ukhousing

An increasing number of women have had to turn to prostitution to get money for food and housing due to financial hardship caused by Universal Credit, The Guardian reports this morning.

The revelation came during a Work and Pensions Select Committee meeting, where MPs heard from charities which revealed the number of women partaking in what is known as ‘survival sex’ is growing.

The Independent, which also reported on the meeting, said that in some cases women were charging as little as £2, while others were providing sex in exchange for housing.

The Department for Work and Pensions said that it would work closely with the select committee to respond to their call for evidence.

The BBC runs a report highlighting the gap in house price growth between the North and the South, with property value increases in the North outstripping those in the South.

Following up on a report from the Office for National Statistics, the BBC found that property value prices in London had fallen by 1.9%, while prices in Scotland had increased by 3.3%.

London, the South East and the North East were the only areas in the UK to see house prices drop, while all other regions saw a rise, with Yorkshire and the Humber showing the biggest increase of 3.5%.

The Liverpool Echo runs a piece looking at the growing housing crisis in Knowsley, which has seen the number of people on the brink of homelessness increase by 292%.

In the research carried out by the paper, it found that the biggest reason for people finding themselves homeless in the borough was the termination of assured shorthold tenancies. It also heard from stories of people forced to live in hotels as a result of the end of these tenancies.

People living in London have £8,000 more to spend or save than those living in other parts of the country, reports The Guardian.

Analysis of the UK’s top 10 local areas found that people living in London had on average £27,825 to spend or save, while the UK average was just £19,514. It comes of the back of a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies which found that earning among full-time employees in London were a third higher than the UK average.

In Scotland, disability charity Inclusion Scotland has appealed to the government for “an urgent explanation” about why the number of disabled people on housing waiting lists has almost doubled, according to reports in The National.

Figures released this week show that 17,444 disabled people are now on housing waiting lists, up from 9,714 last year.

The charity said that it did not think the statistics were fully accurate but did say that the rise being seen in the number of disabled people on the lists is alarming.

Still in Scotland, industry experts have warned that the country is suffering from a severe shortage of construction workers, and the shortage is affecting housebuilding plans, the BBC reports.

In Leeds, plans have been lodged for a new major build-to-rent development which would contain more than 800 homes. Insider Media reports that the development which is being built by build-to-rent operator Get Living will include one, two, and three-bedroom apartments and family townhouses.

On social media

Journalists react to video on housing crisis by chief secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss:

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