Call for homes policy

Many women in the capital are being forced to live on benefits because of the Government's failure to draw up an effective housing strategy, according to new research by the London Housing Unit, writes Lesley Gerard.

The high cost of accommodation in London, combined with low wages, means women are permanently caught in the poverty trap. The study, based on data from the Department of Employment and the National Council for One Parent Families, shows that women's earnings are on average 70 per cent lower than men's. Unable to afford extortionate private rents and unlikely to qualify for mortgages many have no option but to depend on social security.

Predictably, lone working mothers, who have to meet childcare bills out of a weekly net average of pounds 116 face the most acute problems.

'The combined cost of childcare and housing forces many to depend on benefits,' said Margaret Moran, chair of the housing unit.