Cap rents not benefits – mansions and tower blocks – millionaires taxes get cut, bedroom tax imposed (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Helen Pattison
It came as no surprise to read young people spend around half their wages on rent. I moved to London four years ago and here the housing crisis is particularly bad. I’ve lived in six different places, mainly because unscrupulous landlords have wanted to drastically increase the rent.
So when London’s Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan, called for “genuinely affordable homes” in his election manifesto, you would be forgiven for thinking he was going to tackle the housing crisis.
But now Khan says Londoners will have to wait two or three years for his “affordable” housing because of Boris Johnson’s spending legacy. But playing the blame game doesn’t help young people cover the rent.
There is an acute housing crisis, while luxury flats and new buildings are going up everywhere. So why can’t new council houses be started now?
In the private sector landlords need to be controlled. A rent cap could help stop them charging rip-off prices, making housing actually affordable to young people.
The real worry with the housing crisis is its lasting effect.
Many of today’s younger generation spend the majority of wages on rent, have to leave home later and share housing for longer.
The impact is a generation forced to postpone their lives because they can’t afford suitable housing.
Young people have waited long enough. We want the housing crisis tackling now.
