New research by housing charity Shelter has uncovered a startling reality for private renters in England, with one in two working renters, or 3.2 million adults, just one pay cheque away from losing their home.
If they lost their job, these individuals would not have enough in savings to cover more than one month’s rent.
Shockingly, 2.2 million renters (34%) would be unable to pay their rent at all from savings if they were to lose their job.
The number of renters who are one pay cheque away from losing their home has increased by almost a third (31%) in just two years.
Private rents are at an all-time high, and Shelter’s latest YouGov poll found that 55% of private renters have faced a rent increase in the past year. As a consequence, 2.1 million tenants (37%) are currently struggling or behind with their rent payments.
Shelter is advocating for the construction of more social homes as a sustainable solution to the crisis in private renting.
Additional research by the charity illustrates the benefits of social housing, with 76% of social renters saying they would not be able to afford to live in their local area without it, and 67% feeling that their social home gives them a stable living environment.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Private renters up and down the country are facing a crisis like never before. Decades of failure from Government to build enough social housing means that the pressure on oversubscribed private renting is worse than ever.”
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, added: “This survey reveals a painful truth – renters are in a more precarious position than ever. In such an uncertain economic climate, it is terrifying that over half of renters may not be able to find money to pay their rent if they were to suddenly lose their job.”
Twomey continued: “That these same renters, through no fault of their own, could potentially lose their home if their landlord chose to evict them with a Section 21 eviction is equally worrying.
“The Government needs to act to support renters now and to provide longer term solutions to the cost of renting crisis that is devastating communities across the country. We need to see Local Housing Allowance unfrozen and an urgent effort to build more homes, particularly more social homes.”
