“Considerable” number of Doncaster council housing tenants fearing homelessness

The Local Government Association (LGA) released a statement following a study which found that the number of people becoming homeless is rising.

It comes as Doncaster council housing provider St Leger Homes released their quarterly review.

Housing spokesperson for the LGA, Cllr David Renard (Swindon Council) said:

“Councils work incredibly hard to prevent the tragedy of homelessness from happening, as well as supporting those who find themselves affected and are very concerned at [recent] statistics, which are from before the worst of the cost of living crisis.

“With evictions in the private rented sector continuing to rise, it is crucial that government urgently implements renters reform legislation to put a stop to ‘no fault’ evictions, and it is imperative that Local Housing Allowance rates are reviewed to ensure that at least a third of the market is affordable for people claiming housing related benefits.

“The building of affordable homes must also be prioritised and councils should be given the powers and resources to build 100,000 social homes a year to address the national shortage of affordable housing.

“If the Government doesn’t urgently develop a cross departmental homelessness prevention strategy in response, we can expect to see these numbers continue to rise.”

St Leger Homes of Doncaster also released its review for the third quarter of 2022 earlier this month.

It read: “There is considerable pressure in various areas. The number of people approaching us fearing becoming homeless, as well as demand for repairs remains high.