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A series of subtle changes to housing benefit mean the safety net for people renting their home is shrinking fast

The necessity of housing makes housing benefit a crucial part of the safety net. It ensures that if someone loses their job, they don't immediately fall behind on their rent and risk losing their home as well. It also allows job-seekers to focus on securing a new job rather than where they are going to sleep that night. 

It is more than six months since the government's benefits cap was introduced, with the aim of encouraging people into work. Panorama followed council officers in the London Borough of Brent for seven months to find out how it was affecting families.

"I don't know how anyone can be rich and proud on benefits. For me, it's very shameful. I hate being in this situation. I hate having to rely on the government," said single mother-of-two Tanya Blake. 

About 6% of social housing tenants in Britain affected by changes to benefits partly designed to cut under-occupancy have moved home, BBC research suggests.

Ministers claim the policy - dubbed the bedroom tax by critics - will free up big homes and save taxpayers £1m a day. 

The government's huge shake-up of the benefits system is pushing families in social housing into greater levels of debt as they struggle to cope and find work, a major study has revealed.

Tenants have seen the amount they owe increase since October, while almost half report having no money left each week once essential bills have been paid. 

The number of homeless families with school-age children being housed outside London by their local authorities has soared dramatically over the last four years.

Figures obtained by London Assembly Green Party member Darren Johnson show that 21 families were shifted outside the capital in 2010/11 but that the number had risen to 222 in the first three quarters of 2013/14 - a 1,000% increase. 

George Osborne has today announced a £119 billion cap on welfare spending.

As he laid out his budget in parliament, the chancellor said the £119 billion cap for 2015/16 would rise in line with inflation to £127 billion in 2018/19. 

A Labour MP's bill calling for the bedroom tax to be scrapped will get a second reading after successfully passing its first hurdle.

Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery (pictured) yesterday introduced a 10-minute bill on scrapping the controversial under-occupation penalty, which was backed by 226 votes to one. 

More than half a billion pounds has been spent by London's boroughs on emergency housing since the general election, new figures have revealed.

Local authorities have spent more than £630 million since 2010 on placing people in temporary accommodation, such as hotels and B&Bs, after they presented themselves as being homeless. 

Residents are being encouraged to seek help from their local credit union rather than go to payday loan companies when times get tough.

Credit unions are financial co-operatives, owned and managed by the members who use them. 

More young people are at risk of homelessness due to high rents, low benefits and a lack of decent housing, homelessness charity Crisis has warned.

As the charity opens its 'Crisis at Christmas' centres today, it is launching 'Shut Out', a new campaign calling for more to be done to stop young people becoming homeless.