Private rent increases put more Mansfield families at risk of homelessness

Some elderly residents are also contacting council teams wanting to downsize, due to rising heating costs as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, Mansfield Council said.

The authority said it is doing its “utmost to support families”, but is reporting a 169 per cent rise in people needing emergency housing to avoid becoming homeless.

New figures show 170 people are in the most at-need band on its housing waiting list, up from 63 this time last year.

There has also been a 16.5 per cent rise in the number of people in the second-most at-need banding, up to 506 compared with 435 a year ago.

Coun Marion Bradshaw, council portfolio holder for housing, said: “We are seeing families present to us from the private sector, mainly because of landlords selling up or increasing rents, making some properties unaffordable for tenants.

“We have also seen an increase in elderly tenants wanting to downsize due to rising heating costs.”

Papers show 106 of the 170 applicants on the authority’s most at-risk housing waiting list are families.

A further 48 applicants are single people, with 15 couples and one application for shared accommodation.

In total, there are 2,541 families on the waiting list across all five housing bands, with 2,361 having school-age children.

The authority has an active waiting list of 6,125 applicants overall, but just 286 properties have been advertised on its housing portal since April.

Demand remains “extremely high” and the average wait time for people in the most at-risk band is six-nine months.

Coun Bradshaw said: “The council will always do its utmost to support families in this time of need.

“We can negotiate with landlords to try to increase the notice they give tenants before taking the ultimate step of evicting.

“By keeping landlords informed of what is happening, the majority allow extra time for families to be rehoused, but if this is not possible, we offer families affected interim accommodation.

“We are always looking at reducing the waiting list and getting people into secure and lasting accommodation as quickly as possible.

“One initiative will be to build more social housing, and this is something we are doing.”