More people have become officially homelesss in Oxford, new figures have revealed.

Oxford City Council statistics show 163 households have been forced to live in temporary accommodation in the city since April, compared to 156 over the whole of the 2010/11 financial year.

A report put before the city executive board said: “There has been a massive downturn in the availability of the private rented market to us, with many landlords no longer willing to take housing benefit clients, and a very buoyant private rental market, with many households renting instead of joining the property market.”

Council deputy leader Ed Turner said: “What we are seeing is more people with problems facing homelessness, and us being less able to prevent it “A homelessness crisis is being created by housing benefits cuts, putting a lot of vulnerable people, both families and single people, in real difficulty.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult for the council to manage.”

The council is to hold a major homelessness review over the coming months to tackle the problem.

Between April and June, only 28 new families secured social housing in the city through the Home Start scheme, compared to 72 in the same period last year.