One in every five households in England will be forced to spend more than a third of their income on housing by the end of the next parliament, according to a new report by Pragmatix Advisory on behalf of the National Housing Federation (NHF).
The wide-ranging report looks at how England’s housing crisis will unfold in the coming years without urgent action from the Government.
Rising mortgage rates and private rents, coupled with a chronic shortage of social housing, will mean a sharp rise in the number of homeowners and private renters struggling to meet their housing costs, heaping further pressure on budgets already stretched by the rising cost of living.
The report finds that by 2030, an extra 1.7 million households will be living in unaffordable homes, bring the total to nearly five million – an increase of more than a third (35%).
This includes 600,000 additional households living in unaffordable private rented homes, one million additional homeowners facing unaffordable mortgage costs, and 1.5 million families on the waiting list for social housing.
The consequences will be most severe for those on low incomes who are already struggling to afford private rents and cannot access social housing.
Future rent rises will force more of these families into overcrowded conditions, increase levels of poverty and debt, and put many at risk of homelessness.
Overcrowding and homelessness among children in England is already at record levels – earlier this year NHF research revealed more than 310,000 children are sharing a bed with their parents or siblings; and the number of homeless children stuck in temporary accommodation reached 130,000 this year, the highest number since records began.
The National Housing Federation is calling for a strategic, long-term plan to fix the UK’s broken housing system, which can only be achieved through a commitment to drastically increase the number of social homes beginning in the next Parliament.
According to the Federation, a long-term plan must be based on ambitious and measurable outcomes for people in need of housing, be properly funded to meet the target of building 90,000 social rented homes each year, include funding for regeneration of existing homes to bring them to a decent standard and make them energy efficient.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “There is no more time to lose. For decades, the number of families who can’t access a safe, secure home has been rising.
“Without urgent action from government, by the end of the next parliament many more families will be left living in unsuitable and unaffordable housing, affecting their health, economic security and life chances.
“Many at the sharpest end of the crisis are forced to share beds or live in shared emergency accommodation such as B&Bs or hotels whilst struggling to pay for food and other essentials.
“Today’s report shows that short-term, piecemeal decisions on housing have created an emergency that will continue escalating at a rapid rate.
She added: “But this is a crisis that can be solved. By committing to a long-term plan for housing that is properly funded and based on ambitious, measurable outcomes, politicians of all parties could begin to turn the tide and create real change for people in need of affordable housing.”
