“Councils are in a race for temporary accommodation, and landlords know this and are pushing rents up,” local authorities in the capital have said.

These comments came during a London Assembly housing committee meeting earlier today, which looked at how local councils in the capital are meeting the demand for temporary accommodation.

But local authorities raised concerns that rents are so high people are being pushed into homelessness and the demand for properties from councils to provide temporary accommodation is pushing rents even higher.

Julia Pit, the director of gateway services with Croydon Council, said: “Local councils are in a race for temporary accommodation and landlords know this and are pushing the prices of rents up.

“We need a pan-London approach to tackling this so councils aren’t outbidding each other because when it comes to housing for some people it is a choice between rent or food.”

Ms Pit also said councils do not have enough government money to provide temporary accommodation for residents.

She said: “A lot of local authorities are in austerity measures and we are trying to do the best we can. There is only so much we can do with the money we have.”

Representatives from other local authorities were quick to agree with Ms Pit.

Lee Georgiou, the housing needs manager at Lewisham Council said: “Landlords are looking to outbid each other, and it is having an impact on the market.

“There are people that come to us needing temporary accommodation and they are working but they just can’t afford rents.”

Matt Campion, the chief executive of Shepherd’s Bush housing group, added that people are often put in expensive temporary accommodation but “don’t have the means to pay”.

He also highlighted a “shortfall” in social housing in London.

According to the 2017 Strategic Housing Market Assessment there needs to be just under 40,000 new lost-cost rented homes each year in the capital.

But since 1994 the total number of homes owned by local authorities has fallen by over 200 million with the number of new homes built for social rent at just over 150 million – a shortfall of nearly 100,000.

Natalie Williamson, a senior policy officer with the Residential Landlords Association – which works with landlords in England and Wales – said to help more people to be placed in affordable temporary accommodation people needed to “change their perception” of homelessness.

She said: “The perception is homeless people in need of temporary accommodation are rough sleepers but often they are whole families.

“People are going to have to be more open minded.”