Shelter have released a report saying that rents are unaffordable in many parts of the country.
Their report is here
* Many rural areas are bearing the brunt of high rent rates and low earnings, with rents more affordable in Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham than in north Devon, north Dorset or Herefordshire.
* London boroughs are the most expensive in England, with the average rent for a two bedroom home in the capital (£1,360) almost two and a half times the average in the rest of the country (£568).
* The least affordable local authority area outside London is Oxford, where typical rents account for 55% of average earnings.
Shelter thinks that families shouldn’t spend more than 35% of their income on rent.
Local housing allowance levels are said to be to blame for the increase in rents. If landlords can get more from tenants on benefits then rents overall will rise. Rents need to come down to be genuinely affordable.
People who can’t afford to pay the rent if they work will see no point in working. To be a sustainable economy the UK needs to be able to have people in work and able to support themselves.
For shelter’s idea to work (excluding any tax credits which younger childless single people wouldn’t be able to get) then on minimum wage for a 35 hour week – a weekly income of £212.8, shouldn’t have to pay more than 35% of that in rent which means you wouldn’t want to spend more than £74.48 on rent.
This works out at (x52/12) a monthly rent of £322.75
A search on rightmove in my area shows that the cheapest 1 bedroom property is £395 a month.
Which shows that housing is very unaffordable in my area for almost everyone.
LHA has been changed for under 35s so they have to share a property now rather than having a flat or house to themself.
Whilst I applaud shelter’s ideas of building more houses to solve this problem, in reality it won’t. House builders throw in some “affordable” housing – which usually isn’t actually affordable, but this just shows that the rest is even more unaffordable.