Fewer Affordable Places To Rent In Our District

January

31

by admin // in Housing

8 comments

The District Council reports here that:

Affordable rent vacancies have decreased from 60 in 2015/16 to just 26 in 2016/17.

If you have a housing problem, the District Council now has one ‘Housing Options Team,’ creating a more streamlined service, with an emphasis on helping people at risk of homelessness….

About the author, admin

  • Bruce, I take your point but we have somehow convinced ourselves that in the past the UK was a place of milk & honey. Today people don’t want to make any sacrifices, the me me me snowflake generation want it all now. What happened to saving hard to get a deposit on a house / flat. Granted deposits are higher now but I know of two young couples ( not earning sky high wages ) who have managed to get on the property ladder by doing just that. So, no latest £50pcm phone, no clubbing, no 2 weeks in Ibiza spending sixty quid getting into a disco, no £100 trainers and guess what, you have enough for a house after a couple of years. When they do get a place at least they won’t be paying a mortgage at 15%…like the oldies did.

    • Yep , me too ( been there / done that ) and I have to agree with Oz that the
      “Aspirational Generation” culture is a part of the problem but it is more complicated than that, however –
      Maybe the old order of things has changed , maybe owning your own home
      (eventually for the benefit of your offspring ) is too long a project for the
      modern world – certainly it is’nt an obsession accross Europe , who tend to rent. So maybe those who live for the moment ( credit cards / leased cars / renting ….) and sod the kids inheritance is the ‘new way’ and we old school
      Chaps just don’t get it….?.
      And yes I know it will cost just as much to rent as a mortgage but they have managed to avoid several years of hard graft / going without to get a deposit….different world now matey.

  • Yes it is Admin , and I made the point that maybe , just maybe , owning your
    own home is now an outdated concept – they say what goes around comes around , and back in the day only the Landed Gentry could afford it.
    And that is where we seem to be headed ( your other point above) with
    zero hour contracts / minimum wage and existing infrastructures falling into
    decay via cut backs / under-funding etc;.
    Pretty bleak outlook is’nt it……..?

  • OK some back up now available from a recent report from the housing charity ‘Shelter’ :-
    Between 2003-14 the population increased by 4.5 million , during the same period some 1.9 million homes were built – that gives an occupancy average
    of 2.37 / household , in fact about the UK norm. So enough homes have
    been built ( despite government propaganda ) however it goes on to show
    that most of those homes are being bought as buy to let , so………
    The actual problem is that most people are now renting because ( as Oz said)
    the circa 20% deposit is ,these days, a deterrent to home ownership.
    Now the cynics amongst might even suggest that the government is happy
    with this – all that lucky extra taxation on Landlord profits as opposed to
    tax relief on mortgages……just a thought !!!!

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