More than 1,000 households in Bradford were tipped into homelessness during the first 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic, figures reveal.

Housing charity Shelter said thousands of families across the country have become homeless during the Covid-19 crisis, and with living costs rising, more are at risk now.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show that 1,196 households in Bradford sought council support after becoming homeless between April 2020 and the end of September 2021.

Across England, 222,360 households have been pushed into homelessness since April 2020.

Bradford Cllr Ross Shaw, Portfolio holder for Housing, said: “Bradford Council gives the highest priority to homelessness and invests significant funds into preventing and tackling homelessness.

“Our homeless team works closely with partners to achieve the best outcomes for homeless individuals and families. Projects such as Housing First, No Second Night Out and the Homeless Outreach Partnership have been highly successful in delivering homelessness outcomes for our vulnerable residents.

“Whilst Temporary Accommodation (TA) is not appropriate for families with children our pathway tries to avoid placing them into TA in the first place.

“We also have a policy of not placing families into Bed and Breakfast accommodation. If we are unable to avoid placing families into any of our commissioned temporary accommodation, we would try and move them on into settled accommodation as soon as possible.”

Osama Bhutta, director of campaigns at Shelter, said the pandemic has been "atrocious" for struggling families even with protections like the eviction ban and the £20 Universal Credit uplift.

Bailiff-enforced evictions were banned for a large part of the pandemic – a measure introduced by the Government to prevent renters from being made homeless – though the ban was lifted in England on May 31.

Containing the first three full months’ worth of data after the eviction ban was lifted, the latest statistics show 36,510 English households became homeless between July and September 2021 – the equivalent of 397 every day.

In Bradford, 217 households needed help because they were homeless over this time – down from 222 during the same period in 2020.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said its actions had helped keep thousands of people in their homes.

A spokeswoman added: “Government interventions have also prevented almost 450,000 households from becoming homeless since 2017, supported by an extra £316 million this year, and we will also be ending no-fault evictions as soon as we can.”