Thanks to the housing crisis, I would have to be rental to vote for you, Theresa May
This Generation Rent-er, like many others, is angry at politicos over the housing crisis - perhaps Theresa May should be bricking it
HOW much should you pay for a roof over your head, for basic protection from the elements?
My one-bedroom flat costs £1,400 a month — and until recently, didn’t provide either.
During heavy rain a few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I were lying in bed listening to the storm raging outside.
Then suddenly, the rain wasn’t outside at all — but pouring directly on to our bed, from the ceiling light fitting.
“Young people without family wealth are ‘right to be angry’ at not being able to buy a home,” says Theresa May.
Too right I’m angry. I’m 28 and I spend a huge percentage of my salary on rent, and have done for almost a decade.
The bare minimum of what I expect for that price is to be warm and dry.
It’s funny how ten years of renting can severely modify your expectations.
I’ve got used to a flat so small that when we put up the clothes horse to dry laundry, we have to climb across the furniture like an obstacle course.
I don’t mind that there’s no room for a proper sofa, and we have to take turns sitting on what is basically a glorified armchair.
I’ve even got used to the damp in the built-in wardrobes, that turned my suede boots into a particularly disgusting science experiment.
But rain pouring straight on to my bed? Prime Minister, I’m more than angry — I’m furious.
Mrs May’s announcement on Monday that the Government plans to close loopholes and tighten planning laws will do little to help the members of Generation Rent, like me, who are priced out of the housing market — seemingly forever. It’s just tinkering.
Until the government does something far more radical we remain at the mercy of landlords, with no hope of buying our own home — and we’ll certainly not vote Tory.
New analysis from the British Election Study (BES) revealed that the surge in turnout in last year’s election, along with the swing from the Conservatives to Labour, was attributable to people who rent rather than own their home.
Among renters in the private sector, turnout jumped by ten points, with the biggest change among renters aged 25-44 — and they voted Labour.
Are the Tories really surprised? They’re supposed to be the party of “property owning democracy”, and yet drastically fewer young people own a home than 20 years ago.
The proportion of middle-earning 25-34 year olds who own a house has dropped from 65 per cent in 1996 to 27 per cent today.
I have more or less given up on buying a place of my own.
I have a well-paid job, but in London — where house prices are 17.5 per cent higher than the average incomes — I would need a deposit of almost £90,000.
Meanwhile, I’ve got a crippling student loan to pay back and my rent rises every year.
Even if I was to save an ambitious £500 a month — which would require giving up any social life — I’d still not hit this target by the time I was 40.
According to the charity Shelter, by 2020, first-time buyers in England will need a £64,000 salary to buy a house, and Londoners will need £106,000 — unimaginable to all but a very privileged few.
Little wonder that everyone I know who has managed to buy a flat did so with the help of their wealthy family.
Meanwhile, this chronic housing crisis is being presided over by a parliament where one in five MPs are landlords.
Surprise surprise, the Tories have the highest number of landlord MPs at 87.
Of all 650 MPs, 123 are landlords. And in 2016, 72 landlord MPs voted against a move to compel property owners to ensure rental homes were “fit for human habitation”. Now you begin to see why landlord MPs are a problem.
My current landlady is a good one. She’s paid for expensive roof repairs and my ceiling no longer leaks.
But experience suggests that she’s a rare breed.
I had one landlord who didn’t send anyone to fix a broken boiler for 12 days.
The same landlord tried to put up the rent twice in a year.
My friend’s landlord refused to get her a new door when hers was kicked in during a burglary.
Another lived for a year with a toilet that could only be flushed once a day.
Anecdote is borne out by fact — research found that 30 per cent of privately rented homes fail to meet the national Decent Homes Standard, thanks to safety hazards and inadequate heating.
Bad landlords have Generation Rent over a barrel.
We will continue to line their pockets for the privilege of living in their damp, shabby accommodation because there is no other choice.
We’re desperate for politicians to step in and do something to make home ownership a realistic aspiration.
The stakes are high — whoever finds a solution could win the next election.
Saying the housing crisis is too hard to solve isn’t good enough.
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Building more houses would be a good start — starter homes in places people want to live.
Use taxes to crack down on foreign investors and buy-to-let owners who snap up property and push up prices.
And introduce greater protection for tenants and longer tenancies, so they don’t need to live in fear of their rent spiralling every year.