More households with children threatened with homelessness in Mansfield and Ashfield

Homelessness charity Crisis said the rise in families being forced from their homes across England is ‘deeply worrying’.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show 125 households with children were owed a prevention duty in Mansfield in 2021-22, up from 18 the year before, alongside 108 in Ashfield, up from 61.

This means the household has been threatened with homelessness and is eligible for council support.

A further 116 Ashfield households and 68 Mansfield households were owed a relief duty in the year to March, meaning they are already homeless and their district council must take steps to help the applicant secure accommodation for at least six months.

Nationally, 56,340 households with children were owed a prevention duty in 2021-22, up 24 per cent on 45,590 the year before.

The number of relief duties owed to households with children rose from 30,080 to 36,960.

The Government pledged in its 2019 manifesto to end homelessness by 2024.

Kiran Ramchandani, of Crisis director, said: “The intense cost-of-living pressures and severe lack of affordable housing mean many households with children will be forced into temporary accommodation and we know how damaging a long-term stay can be.”

She urged the Government to increase housing benefits and set out a plan to provide affordable homes.

She also said it is vital those fleeing domestic abuse have a safe place to call home.

Domestic abuse pushed an increasing number of people towards homelessness, with some 11,330 of the 56,340 households with children owed a relief duty nationwide caused by domestic abuse, up 18 per cent from the year before and 36 per cent from 2019-20, before the coronavirus pandemic.

A further 5,730 prevention duties were owed due to domestic abuse in 2021-22.

In Mansfield, six domestic abuse cases led to prevention duties, while 21 relief duties were owed. In Ashfield, five cases led to prevention duties, while 46 duties were owed.

A DLUHC spokesman said it is giving councils £316 million to ‘ensure families are not left without a roof over their heads’.

He said: “More than half a million households have been prevented from becoming homeless, or supported into settled accommodation since 2018 through the Homelessness Reduction Act.”