Poor households in Blackpool spend a third of their income on rent

Housing charities said a reduction in benefits has made the rent burden more severe for people in need and called for more social homes to be built to keep up with demand.

The latest data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government shows that new social tenants spent, on average, 31 per cent of their monthly income on rent during the financial year 2017-18.

Although it is 68 per cent cheaper than the private market, the median tenancy rent for social houses in Blackpool was £82 per week.

This amount exclude the payments of bills.

According to the housing charity Shelter and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, spending more than a third of your disposable income on rent or a mortgage means you may not be able to afford other basic needs.

The data shows that a fifth of new social housing tenants were in work in Blackpool.

Catherine Ryder, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said: “Our research shows we need to build 90,000 homes for social rent each year to keep up with demand.

“To do this, Government must reform how land is sold, so that housing associations are not directly competing with private developers for land to build social housing.

“Reduction in benefits since 2010 will also have had an impact on people’s incomes and are making it much harder for people to afford rent and other essentials.”