THOUSANDS of families are cutting spending on essentials like food to meet housing costs.

Young, working families are most likely to be going without as high mortgage repayments and the cost of private rent take their toll.

The new figures, released by think-tank Resolution Foundation, show that out of the 233,000 low and middle income families living in the North-East, 42,000 are living in unaffordable housing where more than a third of their monthly income goes on payments.

Vidhya Alakeson, deputy chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: “Many families are struggling to find any type of housing which fits both their needs and their budget. Often they are making difficult choices which mean going without other essentials to pay their housing bills or living in overcrowded conditions.

“We’ve become used to the idea that buying a property is now an impossible dream for millions of people on low to middle incomes, but increasingly private rent is also becoming unaffordable even though, for many families, it is the only option.”

ONS figures showed that in 2010 the average North-East household has just £327 left after housing costs were subtracted, the lowest of any region in the UK.

However David Dodd, chief executive of Darlington Building Society, said: “In terms of new loans and arrears we’re not seeing these figures backed up. Home owners feeling the pinch most will be those on fixed rate mortgages that they signed five years ago, but that will only make up a small section of the market.

“Private rents have steadily risen over the years so that could explain it, as 20 per cent deposits forced a lot of first time buyers into rented accommodation instead.”