Domestic abuse pushed Northumberland people into homelessness or put them at risk of losing their homes more than 100 times during the coronavirus pandemic, figures reveal.

A spike in such cases nationally has been branded “shocking” by domestic abuse charities, which are calling for more funding to help survivors.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) data shows in the year to March, Northumberland County Council found 105 households had become homeless, while 45 needed help to prevent them from losing their home because of domestic abuse.

It means a total of 150 families needed housing help because of domestic abuse – 32 more than the previous year.

Across England, councils received 31,180 requests for help from households who had lost their accommodation or were threatened with homelessness due to domestic abuse in 2020-21 – a 17 per cent increase on the year before.

Of those, almost half were households with children.

Though the gender of the person applying for help is not specified, separate figures from the Office for National Statistics show women are more than twice as likely to be victims of domestic abuse as men.

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, policy manager at Women’s Aid, said: “It’s shocking that, in 2021, women fleeing domestic abuse still face the terrifying prospect of either returning to their perpetrator or facing homelessness.

“We continue to face a shortage of bed spaces in specialist refuge services, and this has a huge impact for women at a time when they are most in need of support.”

She added the charity’s research showed women who survive domestic abuse, some pregnant or with children, are still sleeping rough, with black and minoritized women being disproportionately affected.

A spokesperson from Northumberland County Council said: "In Northumberland we have seen a 15 per cent increase in households being re-housed due to domestic abuse between 2019-2020.

"The council is committed to protecting and supporting the most vulnerable members of our community. Because of the complexity of domestic abuse, it cannot be tackled in isolation.

"In Northumberland we commission an integrated Domestic Abuse Support Service, DASSN. This partnership approach helps us tackle the issue of domestic abuse more effectively helping to foster a zero-tolerance approach towards this hidden crime and increasing community confidence in reporting it.

"This integrated service with a single point of contact offers specialist, confidential advice for men and women who are experiencing or are at risk of domestic abuse.

"As part of the Domestic Abuse Support Service, we also have a nine-unit refuge for women and children to support female victims or survivors in the community. If there are no spaces, or the risk is too high, DASSN will support with accessing refuge out of area, or other safe accommodation by working in partnership with the housing team. "

The Government said it was spending an “unprecedented” £750 million on tackling rough sleeping and homelessness and that the MHCLG figures showed a 7.3 per cent drop in families needing support from homelessness services in the year to March.

The Local Government Association said councils had worked tirelessly to tackle homelessness during the pandemic.

David Renard, housing spokesman, said: “The increase in households with children who were homeless or threatened with homelessness due to domestic abuse is deeply worrying.

“We want to work with Government on a cross-departmental long-term homelessness prevention strategy and tackle our housing shortage as we recover from the pandemic.”

A spokesman for the MHCLG said: “We’re ensuring councils provide specialist support, so those who leave their home to escape domestic abuse have somewhere safe to go and we’re backing this with £125 million funding – this is alongside a pioneering £3.7 million Respite Room trial, providing safe housing and support for victims at risk of sleeping rough.”