There is a desperate shortage of social housing: one in 12 families in England are on waiting lists. In London more than 360,000 people are waiting, and nearly 40,000 people live in temporary accommodation. People are being forced into the unregulated private sector, which has grown by 86% in three years. Rents are going through the roof, up by 4.3% last year and up by a third in three years in London. As people can’t pay, landlord evictions have risen by 70%. Slum landlords are back with 42% of tenants in sub-standard properties. Housing conditions in Britain are among the worst in Western Europe and cost the nation about £7bn a year by adding to the pressure on the NHS and other public services, because of the mental and physical health problems associated with debt, poverty and enforced relocations and overcrowding.
In the private sector, local housing allowance (the name given to housing benefit for those who rent privately) has seen significant cuts and will not cover the high private rents. Tenants are being faced with the starkest of choices – to buy food, pay the bills or pay the rent. The result of this assault is increased insecurity and hardship for working class people who face a future of rent arrears, debt and eviction.
Overcrowding has increased with 9% of households (2 million) having one bedroom too few for the number of occupants, up a third from 2001 when 1.5 million were overcrowded. The London borough of Newham tops the table with 25.4% of households overcrowded. The number of people helped by the charity Shelter’s housing advice helpline who are either homeless or at risk of losing their home has increased by 80% in the past three years. According to a recent YouGov poll 1.4 million people in Britain are falling behind with their rent or mortgage payments.
More and more families are stuck in unsuitable temporary accommodation. On 30 September 2012, 52,960 households were living in temporary accommodation – an 8% increase over 12 months. The number of households in B&Bs – just under half of which have children – has more than doubled to 4,350 between 2010 and 2012. 880 of these families with children have been living for over six weeks in temporary accommodation, a figure up 184% on last year and more than five times the level of two years ago.
The National Housing Federation’s ‘Home Truths’ survey reveals that homelessness has increased by 26% in just two years. From autumn 2010 to autumn 2011 rough sleeping went up by 23% in England. Almost 4,000 people are sleeping rough on London’s streets, an increase of 8% since last year.
Barnaby Mitchel
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 231 February-March 2013
