A couple with two young children fear being made homeless as their landlord is selling their flat.

The family were given two months to find somewhere to live but weeks of desperately searching has turned up nothing, according to Citizens Advice Richmond (CAR).

They are among some 170 people to contact CAR for housing and homelessness help in the last month alone.

The charity warned that inadequate housing support coupled with an 'acute shortage of affordable rental housing' is making the cost of living crisis worse for families on low incomes.

There were 5,174 families on Richmond Council's waiting list for social housing in March.

However, only 221 homes became available between April 2021 and the end of March this year and more than half were studios or one-beds.

The council's website says most applicants 'accepted onto the queues are unlikely to be assisted with an offer of accommodation or will have to wait a long time'.

CAR said most families on the council's waiting list 'will never be offered a suitable home' and consequently they are forced to try to rent privately.

The family highlighted by CAR currently live in a privately-rented two-bedroom flat in Richmond.

CAR said many letting agents won't even show properties to families in receipt of benefits, which are paid to top up wages.

The charity said other factors make it very hard for families, for example the cap on the amount that people can receive towards housing costs.

CAR said Richmond Council did not spend all the money it received from the government to fund discretionary housing payments last year, which help with rent and housing costs. It urged the authority to review its allocation processes to maximise support for low-income residents.

The charity also urged the government to 'do much more to target support to households on low incomes' - including increasing the payments to better reflect rental costs, abolishing the benefit cap and increasing benefits in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Council leader, Gareth Roberts, said some of the funding was not spent by the authority 'largely due to factors beyond our control' - including a drop in applicants and others not meeting eligibility criteria set by the government.

He said many low-income residents do not know they are eligible for the financial support schemes available.