One in six families now living in private rented sector

The needs of families living in the private rented sector are becoming increasingly important after the number of households with children living in rented accommodation doubled in ten years, says a new report.

The Building and Social Housing Foundation’s report, Who lives in the private rented sector, found there were 588,016 households with children living in the private rented sector in 2000/01. The number rose to 1,196,142 in 2009/10.

As a percentage of the total number of households living in private rented accommodation, this group went up from 8% to 16%, meaning that around one in six families in Britain are in the private rented sector.

The report says this underlines the need for family-type rental accommodation – houses rather than flats, and close to schools, parks and other amenities.

The charity also found that the number of housing benefit claimants in the private rented sector went up 54% from 626,720 to 966,848 over the ten-year period, although remaining at around one-quarter of households in private rented accommodation.

The report says that by 2010, 15% of the population were living in the private rented sector – about 4m households.