Spiralling rents, driven by a combination of demand, house prices and the number of properties used for Airbnb, mean private rentals are beyond the reach of those on benefits, says Fiona McCulloch.

The problem is made worse because housing allowances in York are based on an average rent calculated across a wide area taking in Selby, where rents are much lower.

That means that housing benefit allowances in York are not enough to cover the cost of renting privately.

If you are already in a tenancy, you are probably OK, Fiona said. “But if not, you are really struggling to find anywhere. Private landlords are not taking on people on benefits. We are driving people out of York already, and it is only going to get worse’.

It isn’t only people on benefits who are being driven out of the city, she stressed

“There are also problems for the ‘working poor’, who cannot afford to rent,” she said.

Moving out of York to find somewhere cheaper and commuting in to work wasn’t always an option, she added. “Then people have the extra travel costs.”

Dr Julie Rugg, a University of York expert on the housing rental market, agreed that rents were so high in York that people in receipt of housing benefit could not afford them.

She added that there seemed to be nothing in the government’s recent levelling up white paper - which aims to ensure a better deal for ‘forgotten and deprived’ communities in the North - to tackle this.

“None of the levelling up agenda talks about housing welfare,” she said.

Dr Rugg said another disappointment with the white paper was its failure to make a clear commitment to set up a National Landlord Register to tackle rogue landlords.

Such a register could make a real difference in driving up the quality of private rented accommodation, she said. All landlords would have to register - and if their properties were not up to standard, they could be taken off the register, and would no longer be able to rent.

The white paper says it will ‘explore proposals’ for a National Landlord Register. But that, Dr Rugg said, is too vague. “This has been on the table for more than 10 years.”

York Central MP Rachel Maskell said the high cost of renting in York was a ‘big driver in the cost of living challenge’.

But she said the key problem for York’s broken housing market was that not enough affordable homes were being built.

Too many new developments were full of apartments that were snapped up as buy-to-let - simply driving up rents further, she said. “People are being completely locked out of the city.”

City of York Council leader Keith Aspden said the authority had raised concerns with Whitehall about the cost of renting in York - and also about the problems caused by Airbnbs in the past.

But he said negotiations with Whitehall over a devolution deal for York and North Yorkshire may be a chance to raise the issue again.