London rental prices sky high, Could rent strikes be the answer ??

With the housing crisis in teh UK no more accute than in the Xcapital city of London seeing rent prices soar in recent years. Could we start to see the idea of rent strikes between occupants making a much needed return ?? House rental prices in London have risen by 7.7pc in the past year to £1,560 a month, making rental costs in the capital more than double the UK average. Excluding the capital, rents across the UK average £749 a month, having risen 3.5pc year-on-year, according to the latest quarterly rental index from Homelet. The gap between London and the rest of the UK is now the highest on record, the insurer said. However, rents have risen fastest in Scotland, where new tenancies over the three months to October were priced 9pc higher than the same time a year ago. Prices surged to £665 last month, compared to £610 a year ago. Renting is cheapest in the North East, where average prices are £536 a month. The most expensive area outside London is the South East, where new rental properties coming to the market last month averaged £944 in monthly rent. Average price for new rental properties across the UK, October 2015 Region Average price Annual change Greater London £1,560 7.5% South East £944 4.3% South West £872 4% East Anglia £809 -1.2% West Midlands £669 2% Scotland £665 9% North West £635 -4.9% East Midlands £628 5.9% Yorkshire & Humberside £621 2.0% Wales £614 1.8% Northern Ireland £588 -2.1% North East £536 3.9% Across the UK, rent increases are far outpacing wage growth, with average tenant incomes up just 1.7pc over the year. A separate survey last month suggested many renters are paying more than they can actually afford. Affordable rents are defined as making up less than 35pc of net household income. Homelet, which also questioned almost 15,000 tenants about their views on the rental market, said that while 71pc of tenants are keen to buy their homes, 64pc have no expectations of being able to do so any time soon. An overwhelming number cited high deposits as the biggest barrier preventing them from buying. Yet the report suggested more than half weren't taking any steps to save for a deposit. In total, 20-somethings in the UK can expect to pay £66,800 in rent to landlords by the time they are 30. The authors also found price is the most important factor for tenants choosing a home, ranking higher than other factors such as location, a low crime rate and distance to work. Some 71pc of respondents said they rent through a letting agent, with just 29pc renting directly through a landlord. Those who dealt directly with landlords were more likely to be happier than those renting through letting agents. From the daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/11984097/London-rents-now-a-record-108pc-higher-than-rest-of-UK.html

Occupy for the right to social housing

An interesting new wave of activism around housing has been springing up of late with the latest being on the Guinness Trust estate in South London. This follows closey on the heels of the occupation on the Aylesbury estate the other week. Occupations and direct action are becoming tactics with a target once again. Once again direct action can get the good's. Yesterday, an empty flat in Elveden House on the Guinness Trust estate in Brixton was occupied by local residents and supporters protesting at the threatened eviction of dozens of Guinness tenants from the estate. More people have joined the action today and they plan to keep the occupation running until Guinness agree to halt all evictions and rehouse all the tenants in local social housing. A protest is planned outside the Guinness estate office tomorrow morning Monday 16 January at 9am. The first eviction is due to take place on Thursday 19 February and protesters have vowed to resist any attempt by bailiffs to remove the family from their home. The tenants facing eviction are ‘shorthold’ tenants – but many have been there for ten years and longer. The evictions will make way for Guinness to demolish the blocks and build luxury apartments which will go on sale at full market rate. Of course none of the tenants being evicted can afford to buy the new flats and are facing leaving London, jobs, schools, friends and their community to find somewhere affordable to live. But many residents are saying no and refusing to go. The occupation is part of the campaign to support those residents who are demanding from Guinness Trust: NO EVICTIONS REHOUSE ALL ‘SHORTHOLD’ TENANTS IN SECURE LOCAL SOCIAL HOUSING For more information or to speak to one of the tenants facing eviction, email lambethhousingactivists [at] gmail [dot] com or call 07538 316548 http://en.squat.net/2015/02/15/london-guiness-estate-occupation/ Over at Johnny Void he perfectly sums up the growing mood of anger rising from below which has so far not been fully co opted by the left sects who will use it for their own ends if they could to recruit and steer any campaign down a dead end much like the Socialsit party are trying to do with the Focus E15 mums who are being invited to every event put on by TUSC and the SP they can do. Our strength is with ourselves not a party of self appointed revolutionaries. "As glass and concrete spindles made of luxury flats climb into the clouds above London below them lives a generation of children who will never be able to afford to live here when they are grown up. Across the capital families and communities are being fractured as rents soar beyond poverty wages and benefit caps mean eviction and forced relocation for those who fall on hard times. In central London at night huddled bodies in sleeping bags fill the shop doorways whilst camps of homeless migrants hide beneath bridges and in tunnels after finding out the city’s streets were actually paved with shit. Social housing estates are being slowly run down, decanted and demolished to make way for the rich and a handful of so-called affordable properties that nobody local can afford. Gentrification forces up rents and closes down well loved local pubs and markets to be replaced by hipster twats selling over-priced cupcakes or bowls of fucking Coco Pops to each other. The rich should not just be unwelcome in this environmnent, they should be despised. None of this has happened by accident. As property prices rocket out of reach every last fucking brick has become an investment opportunity. London does not have a housing problem, some of the most expensive properties in the city are empty and unused. London has a rich people problem. Yet as the social and cultural heart of the capital is ripped apart, a spectre is haunting London. A spectre of toff-hating fucking rage. Recently up to four thousand people marched on City Hall demanding homes, whilst a breakaway groups took to the roads and occupied empty flats on the Aylesbury Estate. Abandoned properties have been occupied throughout the capital from Stratford to Mayfair. Shadowy American property developers Westbrook Partners were chased out of their ownership of the New Era Estate after threatening to hike rents. Local groups who face losing their homes have brought construction sites to a standstill with blockades. Last week bailiffs, the attack dogs of the rich, were pelted with paint bombs at their glitzy annual award ceremony. And the boisterous Poor Doors demonstrations are back after pampered property developer Taylor McWilliams declared there was nothing he could be arsed to do to end social segregation in the building his company owns. It is little wonder that the rich want us out of their playground. Property developers now boast in adverts that there will be no social housing tenants in their luxury new flats. Poor doors force low income tenants to use a different entrance to their homes than the rich who live in the same buildings. Even gardens that were promised to low income residents are now to be fenced off and made available for posh cunts only. David Cameron has threatened a policy which will socially cleanse the poor from the entire South East of England within a week of any Tory election victory. But we are not fucking going anywhere. At the recent housing march it was declared that the growing movement for homes is the beginning of the end of London’s housing crisis. Escalation is now vital on every front. It’s time to make the rich feel unwelcome. To let them know that if they leave their luxury buildings empty they will be occupied. If they force us to use poor doors we will mob their buildings and spoil their dinners. That from the trust fund Tarquins destroying local communities to the plutocrats, bankers and global super-rich buying houses to keep empty as investments, we will hunt them down and make their lives as uncomfortable as they want to make ours. There are fucking loads more of us than them. The rich are here by our consent. It’s time to tell them to fuck off. Next Thursday (19th February) the Poor Doors demo will start at 6pm sharp, 1 Commercial Street, E1 and march to the site of the stolen garden at Tower Bridge SE1. Then on Monday 23rd February Boris Johnson will be the target as housing campaigners flock to City Hall to block his budget. If you have kids growing up in this city or plan to grow old here then you should be there, at both if you can. This is our London, not theirs and we need to take it back." Please help spread the word about both events, for more info on the Poor Doors protest visit Class War’s website and join/share the facebook event page for Block the Budget. https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/this-is-our-city-not-theirs-its-time-to-tell-the-rich-to-fuck-off/

Still living at home with your parents ? your not alone

"Nearly two million working young adults aged between 20 and 34 years old in England are still living with their parents according to Shelter, which is urging stronger action to help the ''clipped wing generation'' fly the nest. The charity said data it has taken from the Census shows that there are 1.97 million people in this age group in England who are still living with their parents, accounting for one quarter of all young adults in employment. A survey commissioned by the charity also found that nearly half (48%) of 250 young adults who live with their parents said they do so because they cannot afford to rent or buy their own home. Shelter said its analysis of the Census data uncovered several areas where the proportion of adult children living with their parents is much higher. It named nation's ''clipped wing'' hotspots as Castle Point in Essex where 45% of working 20- to 34-year-olds live with their parents; Knowsley in Merseyside where the figure is 42%; and Solihull where 38% of young working adults still live in the home they grew up in. " I too can add myself to this ever growing list. The rental prices in East Hertfordshire are reidiculous and someone who only works part time with his wages topped up a little by working tax credits paying a rent of 500 pounds a month upwards is simply not a option i can afford. I am blind as some of you may or may not know and i would love to further my independence by gaining my own place. But this is just not possible. If renting is almost impossible dont even think about owning your own place either. I am 26 and have very little chance of getting on the so called propety ladder. help to buy and schemes like these are helpful to some but for many they make no difference at all. "Shelter highlighted the case of a 32-year-old woman named Sarah who lives with her parents in the family home in Croydon. She works in online advertising, but has been living on and off with her parents for the past 10 years while trying to save for a deposit. Sarah said: ''I'm trying really hard to save up and get my own place but today's rollercoaster house prices mean the goal posts keep moving. ''If I move out now the reality is I'll be stuck paying expensive rents for the rest of my life. I know I'm lucky to have a job and somewhere to live, but the thought that I'm going to be living like a teenager into my late 30s or even 40s is really disheartening.'' Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: ''The 'clipped wing generation' are finding themselves with no choice but to remain living with mum and dad well into adulthood, as they struggle to find a home of their own... ''Rather than pumping more money into schemes like Help to Buy, we need bolder action that will meet the demand for affordable homes and not inflate prices further. ''From helping small local builders find the finance they need, to investing in a new generation of part rent, part buy homes, the solutions to our housing shortage are there for the taking. " with extracts from an article in todays Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/houseprices/10996825/Clipped-wing-generation-still-live-with-mum-and-dad.html

Many families in Eastern England one pay cheque away from loosing their homes

HUNDREDS of thousands of families with children in the East of England could not pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job, new figures from Shelter reveal today (Monday, April 14). The YouGov survey of working adults who pay rent or a mortgage found that with little or no savings to fall back on, 45% of all working families in the East could be just one pay cheque away from losing their home. The research also found that in the east of the country, a quarter of all families face the nightmare scenario of immediately being unable to afford their home if they lost their income. More than 200,000 families (26%) said that if they lost their job this month and could not get another one straight away, they would not be able to make their next rent or mortgage payment from their savings. Kate Murray lives with her five year old daughter and disabled mother. She lost her job as a business manager with only three days’ notice when the company she worked for went bankrupt in October 2013. Kate said: “Before my employer went bankrupt they hadn’t been paying me properly for a while, so I’d started to fall behind on my mortgage. Then I got the letter through the door saying they wanted to take my house back. I was petrified. It’s not the best house but at least it’s our house. I thought, what am I going to do? How am I going to tell my daughter and my mum that we have to move out?” The latest government figures on savings mirror Shelter’s research, revealing that there are 15m working age adults in the UK with no savings at all. The charity’s findings showed that 3.8m working families from across the UK could not pay their rent or mortgage from their savings for more than a month if they lost their job, and 2.4m of these families have no savings to fall back on at all. Liz Clare, who is a helpline advisor at Shelter, said: “This research highlights the financial knife-edge that millions of us now find ourselves on – living month to month, pay cheque to pay cheque. Every day we see the proof that just one piece of bad luck, like a sudden job loss or illness, could tip any of us into a spiral that puts the family home at risk. “Sky-high housing costs and stagnating wages mean that saving is becoming a thing of the past for many people. Most of us simply don’t have enough money in the bank that we can rely on for long enough to get back on our feet. We need better government support to give families the short-term help they need to keep their homes if they fall on hard times. Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Finding another job is hard enough, but without a stable place to live it’s almost impossible. No matter how hard ordinary families work, in today’s ‘knife-edge nation’ any drop in income can all too quickly put their home at serious risk. The government must make sure the safety net is strong enough to stop families falling through the gaps, and going through the tragedy of losing their homes.” Anyone who is worried about losing their home can contact Shelter for free, independent advice. Visit www.shelter.org.uk/advice or call the helpline on 0808 800 4444. Written bySINEAD HOLLAND http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/News/Bishops-Stortford/Families-in-the-East-of-England-one-pay-cheque-away-from-losing-homes-20140414055855.htm?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

The young who just cant move out

New findings out today suggest more of us young people are living at home with parents for a long time now. I would place myself in this bracket. I simply cant afford to move out the prices even just to rent in my area are ridiculous and buying is way out of the question as i simply dont earn enough. "British society is undergoing a significant shift as 1 in 4 young adults now live with their parents according to national statistics released on Tuesday. Those aged 20 to 34 are now more likely to be sharing a home with their parents than any time since 1996. That's 3.3 million UK adults who are either unwilling or unable to live in a separate home from their parents. A closer look at the data from the Office for National Statistics reveals who is most likely to be in that 1 in 4. A sharp and significant rise Almost two decades ago, 21% adults aged 20-34 were living with their parents - 2.7 million people in the UK. Now, as 670,000 more individuals in that age bracket are in the same situation, that figure has risen to 26% of young adults. For every 10 women, there are 17 men aged 20 to 34 living with their parents. There are a few possible explanations for this wide gender gap: On average, young women are more likely to form relationships with men that are older than them and are therefore more likely to be living as part of a couple in their own household. (600,000 more women than men in this age group are cohabiting) Young women are also more likely to be lone parents in their own households (590,000 more women than men in this age group) Finally, young women are more likely than men to be studying in higher education - and move away from home to do so In the capital, the number of young adults living with their parents drops considerably to 1 in 5 while in Northern Ireland it is more than 1 in 3, well above the national average. Those regional differences have existed since records began, despite the fact that they've grown more noticeable. In 1996, just 17% of 20-34 year olds in London lived with their parents while in Northern Ireland it was 33% - though the figures were lower back then, they still represented the country's high and low spots. As adults get older, they're less likely to be living at home, though the figures for older age groups may come as a surprise. 14% of male 30 year-olds still live with their parents, a year later that percentage has fallen to 12%, then 9% before finally dropping to 8% for males aged 34. The reasons for younger adults living with their parents may seem self evident but the statistics released still offer some explanations. The first of these is that average earnings of adults rise steadily through their 20s and don't begin to level off until they are in their mid 30s, giving them additional means to leave the parental home. What's more, as age increases, so too does the likelihood young adults will be living with a partner - just 8% of people in the UK do at the age of 20, but by the time they're 31 years old, that rises to 70% of Britons. Finally, the house price paid by first time buyers is now higher compared to their incomes. In 1996, the ratio of first home price to income was 2.7 to 1 - by 2013 it had risen to 4.4. That house price problem is made all the more insurmountable by rising rates of short- and long-term unemployment. The percentage of young adults living with their parents who are unemployed is almost twice the unemployment levels found amongst those in the same group who don't live with their parents (13% compared to 6%). Comparable figures for other countries are based on a slightly different age group - those aged 25 to 34. On that basis, the UK has the 7th lowest percentage of young adults living withe their parents out of 28 EU countries. The lowest rates were in Denmark where it was just 2%, compared to 68% in Croatia. Aside from differing attitudes towards marriage and cohabitation, similar factors are put forward to explain the trends - from university attendance to incomes, unemployment and house prices. You can add your thoughts about the reasons for the British trends below the line. " with extracts from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/jan/21/record-numbers-young-adults-living-with-parents?CMP=twt_gu

Housing crisis deepens in East of England

piece Written bySINEAD HOLLAND http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/News/Bishops-Stortford/New-report-reveals-housing-benefit-woe-of-working-families-in-East-20131210064812.htm?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=" "A NEW report by the National Housing Federation (NHF) shows that more working people in the East of England are being forced to ask for help with housing costs to keep a roof over their heads. In the region there has been a 96 per cent increase in those with jobs claiming housing benefit since 2009 – the fourth highest rise in claims across the country. Adding to the strain for people in the East of England, private rents and house prices are expected to rise by 49.5% and almost 34% respectively by 2020, which could result in further severe financial consequences for the taxpayer. Nationally, an extra 310 working people a day – one every five minutes – have asked for help with housing costs to keep the roof over their heads since 2009. Every day this has added £1.7m to the annual housing benefit bill. The report, Home Truths, found that: • England needs 240,000 new homes a year to meet demand, but housebuilding numbers are falling. In 2012-13 107,000 new homes were built, 11 per cent less than in 2009. • Currently rents take up an average of half of people’s disposable income, but in a decade’s time that figure will have risen to 57%. • Nationally, house prices will increase by 35% by 2020, leaving a huge swathe of the population locked out of home ownership for life. • The number of employed housing benefit claimants is up 104% since 2009. As a result, Government spending on housing benefit has risen to £24bn, but most of this money is going to private landlords rather than building the new homes which would stem rising housing costs. Claire Astbury, East of England external affairs manager for the NHF, said: "We hear a lot about ‘making work pay’, but a decent job won’t even cover the cost of a home in many parts of the East of England, and with rising rents and house prices the situation looks set to get even worse. “Nationally, billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is wasted, lining the pockets of private landlords, when it could be better spent building more homes people can afford. Relying on the private rented sector so heavily is a costly sticking plaster rather than a solution. “In towns and cities pulling away from the recession, the dysfunctional housing market is burning the fingers of many people. “Hard-working families are spending more and more of their income on a home and many could be forced to move – away from jobs, schools and relatives. “We need to address the problems of the housing market now, before another generation is left locked out and reliant on taxpayers to keep the roof over their head.” The latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has confirmed the pressures on the region's housing market, with expectations for house price growth hitting an 11-year high in November as the amount of homes coming onto the East's market once again fell well short of rapidly rising buyer demand. In all, 48% more chartered surveyors in the region predict prices to continue their upward trend rather than fall back over the coming three months. This is the highest reading since June 2002. Last month also saw prices pick up sharply as a net balance of 54% more respondents reported price growth. Meanwhile, although a lack of stock on the market remains a big challenge, buyer interest in the region is continuing to rise. Last month, a net balance of 46% more surveyors reported that new buyer enquiries had risen. RICS East of England spokesman Jan Hÿtch said: "It’s no secret that the housing market is on the way up, with price and sales expectations on the rise across the region. “The Bank of England’s recent decision to withdraw the Funding for Lending scheme – which allows banks to borrow more cheaply and pass the benefits on to mortgage applicants – could well have some impact on the number of people able to purchase a home, although the improvement in wholesale and retail funding markets may mean the impact on mortgages is relatively limited. “One thing we are very concerned about, however, is the lack of both new and existing homes coming onto the market. “As the Chancellor pointed out last week, housebuilding is on the up, but it is rising nowhere near quickly enough to make up the shortfall that has built up in recent years."

Housing crisis deepens in East of England

A NEW report by the National Housing Federation (NHF) shows that more working people in the East of England are being forced to ask for help with housing costs to keep a roof over their heads. In the region there has been a 96 per cent increase in those with jobs claiming housing benefit since 2009 – the fourth highest rise in claims across the country. Adding to the strain for people in the East of England, private rents and house prices are expected to rise by 49.5% and almost 34% respectively by 2020, which could result in further severe financial consequences for the taxpayer. Nationally, an extra 310 working people a day – one every five minutes – have asked for help with housing costs to keep the roof over their heads since 2009. Every day this has added £1.7m to the annual housing benefit bill. The report, Home Truths, found that: • England needs 240,000 new homes a year to meet demand, but housebuilding numbers are falling. In 2012-13 107,000 new homes were built, 11 per cent less than in 2009. • Currently rents take up an average of half of people’s disposable income, but in a decade’s time that figure will have risen to 57%. • Nationally, house prices will increase by 35% by 2020, leaving a huge swathe of the population locked out of home ownership for life. • The number of employed housing benefit claimants is up 104% since 2009. As a result, Government spending on housing benefit has risen to £24bn, but most of this money is going to private landlords rather than building the new homes which would stem rising housing costs. Claire Astbury, East of England external affairs manager for the NHF, said: "We hear a lot about ‘making work pay’, but a decent job won’t even cover the cost of a home in many parts of the East of England, and with rising rents and house prices the situation looks set to get even worse. “Nationally, billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is wasted, lining the pockets of private landlords, when it could be better spent building more homes people can afford. Relying on the private rented sector so heavily is a costly sticking plaster rather than a solution. “In towns and cities pulling away from the recession, the dysfunctional housing market is burning the fingers of many people. “Hard-working families are spending more and more of their income on a home and many could be forced to move – away from jobs, schools and relatives. “We need to address the problems of the housing market now, before another generation is left locked out and reliant on taxpayers to keep the roof over their head.” The latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has confirmed the pressures on the region's housing market, with expectations for house price growth hitting an 11-year high in November as the amount of homes coming onto the East's market once again fell well short of rapidly rising buyer demand. In all, 48% more chartered surveyors in the region predict prices to continue their upward trend rather than fall back over the coming three months. This is the highest reading since June 2002. Last month also saw prices pick up sharply as a net balance of 54% more respondents reported price growth. Meanwhile, although a lack of stock on the market remains a big challenge, buyer interest in the region is continuing to rise. Last month, a net balance of 46% more surveyors reported that new buyer enquiries had risen. RICS East of England spokesman Jan Hÿtch said: "It’s no secret that the housing market is on the way up, with price and sales expectations on the rise across the region. “The Bank of England’s recent decision to withdraw the Funding for Lending scheme – which allows banks to borrow more cheaply and pass the benefits on to mortgage applicants – could well have some impact on the number of people able to purchase a home, although the improvement in wholesale and retail funding markets may mean the impact on mortgages is relatively limited. “One thing we are very concerned about, however, is the lack of both new and existing homes coming onto the market. “As the Chancellor pointed out last week, housebuilding is on the up, but it is rising nowhere near quickly enough to make up the shortfall that has built up in recent years. “If there is no meaningful increase in new homes, the likelihood is that prices – and, for that matter, rents – will continue to push upwards, making the cost of shelter ever more unaffordable.”

The gentrification of our towns and cities

Yesterday on the ever excellent Novara FM Aaron and James discussed gentrification and how it is changing the face of the Britain we know. You can listen back to yesterdays show on Novara at http://novaramedia.com/2013/10/regeneration-gentrification-and-social-cleansing/ The definition from Wikipedia on gentrification is as follows “Gentrification is a shift in an urban community toward wealthier residents and/or businesses and increasing property values, sometimes at the expense of the poorer residents of the community.[1] Gentrification is typically the result of investment in a community by local government, community activists, or business groups, and can often spur economic development, attract business, deter crime, and have other benefits to a community. However, despite these potential benefits, urban gentrification often, intentionally or unintentionally, is generally believed to result in population migration as poor residents of a neighborhood are displaced by wealthier newcomers, though studies have shown this not necessarily to be the case.[2] In a community undergoing gentrification, the average income increases and average family size decreases. Poorer, pre-gentrification residents, who are unable to pay increased rents, and property taxes, or afford real estate, may be driven out. Often old industrial buildings are converted to residences and shops. New businesses, which can afford increased commercial rent, cater to a more affluent base of consumers—further increasing the appeal to higher income migrants and decreasing the accessibility to the poor. Often, resident owners unable to pay the taxes are forced to sell their residences and move to a cheaper community.[3][4] Political action, either to promote or oppose the gentrification, is often the community's response against unintended economic eviction.[5] However, local governments may favor gentrification because of the increased tax base associated with the new high-income residents, as well as other perceived benefits of moving poor people and rehabilitating deteriorated areas.[citation needed]” A fantastic piece carried out by The New economics Foundation who are a little hit and miss me find but often come up with some cracking investigations and works have unearthed some startling statistics in Islington and how this is going to affect people long term. “Poverty is deepening and inequality is widening in Islington. After five years of economic uncertainty, public sector cuts, and now welfare reform, lower-income residents are under more pressure than ever. The gap between the wealthiest and the rest is growing as house prices and wage polarisation squeeze middle-income families. By 2020, Islington will be a starkly polarised and unequal borough. Despite these challenges this report shows that local actors can make a difference in the face of change. It identifies key areas in which action can make a positive difference to the lives of Islington residents, now and in the long run. This report is about poverty and inequality in Islington. Through interviews with low and high earners in the borough, as well as statistical analysis of key trends, Distant neighbours explores: • how life has changed for Islington’s lower-income residents during a period of economic uncertainty, public sector cuts, and welfare reform. • what inequality looks like in Islington, how people experience it, and what the consequences are for all of us. • how current trends will continue into the future and what Islington might look like in 2020. • what can be done locally to address poverty and inequality. In contrast to its image of boutique shops, top-end restaurants, and a thriving night life, Islington has long been a borough of entrenched poverty and wide inequalities. In 2008, Cripplegate Foundation’s report Invisible Islington painted a rich picture of the lives of the borough’s lower-income residents. It showed how people were struggling with worklessness, debt, social isolation, and poor physical and mental health. Our research suggests that over the last five years poverty has deepened and inequality has widened. • Poverty is intensifying in Islington. There have always been lower-income residents living in Islington, struggling with poverty. Today, life is much harder due to five years of economic uncertainty, public sector cuts, and now welfare reform. People on low incomes feel insecure. They feel they have no control over their lives. They fear destitution. Social isolation and mental ill health are worsening. Child poverty is particularly high, and likely to grow. Finding work is not always the answer to poverty in Islington. Our research shows that the London Living Wage (LLW) is not enough for the majority of household types in Islington. • Middle-income families have been squeezed out of Islington. Islington is fast becoming a place where middle-income families can no longer afford to live. The middle market in homes is disappearing as house prices soar. Wages are also stagnating, especially for middle- and lower-income earners. This means that middle-income families have been squeezed out of the borough and only certain groups on middle incomes – single people and couples without children living in flat shares – will be able to stay. • By 2020, only the wealthiest will be able to afford to live in Islington. We predict that by 2020 a family will need to earn more than £90,000 a year to afford market rents in Islington. House buying will be out of reach for almost all but the very top earners. This will leave Islington polarised, with very wealthy families at the top, a youthful, transient and childless sector in the middle, and those on low incomes at the bottom, living in social housing. The social consequences of living in an economically polarised borough which are revealed by the research – residents leading separate lives, lack of understanding between groups, and social alienation – are likely to grow. The issues raised in this report are both wide ranging and complex. However, action to address poverty and inequality in Islington is possible. Cripplegate Foundation, keen to learn about residents’ experiences of poverty and inequality and thus inform its future work, commissioned this report. Based on our findings we identify three broad areas for action. These range from opportunities for immediate local action, to longer-term preventative measures, to advocating for wider change beyond the borough. • Make a difference today. The most direct and immediate way in which organisations such as Cripplegate Foundation can address the issues raised in this report is through local action. Building on the success of the initiatives developed after Invisible Islington, Cripplegate Foundation could make a difference today by investing in mental health and well-being initiatives, supporting initiatives to reduce social isolation the borough, enabling lower income families to access alternative forms of credit, and supporting young people to develop their capabilities. • Invest upstream to prevent poverty and inequality. Cripplegate Foundation could play a role in ensuring that valuable preventative work continues in Islington. This could best be achieved by partnering more closely with universal service providers, such as General Practitioners (GPs) and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), and by working more collaboratively with local residents. • Advocate for change beyond Islington. Cripplegate Foundation can use its position as a respected local foundation to advocate for change within and beyond the borough. This could be approached on an issue-by-issue basis, including: affordable and decent quality housing; secure and well-paid jobs and apprenticeships; and access to credit, building on the successful work of the Islington Debt Coalition.” http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/distant-neighbours Clearly I am going to agree with James and Aaron from Novara FM who suggest communism being the route out of this mess but in the right here and now we need resistance to all this. Big parts of London for example are coming no go zones for the working class. A lot of people are moving south from the north in London and further east too the old docklands areas are now full of high rise posh flats and offices where before it was good solid working class communities. We can see the changing face of London under our very eyes we must organise to stop this happening in any way we can. There are a lot of difficulties in organising any sort of resistance to this but to spread solidarity and draw people into the struggles must be a start for me. The answer oh just build more homes isn’t necessarily helpful here as there is good housing all be it in need of upgrading here but poorer communities are not being allowed to stay and are having to be forced out. A culture of resistance in communities is clearly needed to combat this kind of attack. This is not going to go away and whilst capitalism is here and the transient inter capitalist class who are always on the move exist we will always have this issue.

Why help to buy won’t help most people

This week the governments help to buy scheme is launched across the UK how this will go is unclear but we can be sure this wont benefit most ordinary people. The scheme which offers would-be homebuyers interest-free loans of up to 20 per cent of the cost of a newly built property (up to a value of £600,000) and requires a deposit of just 5 per cent. Announcing Help to Buy in his recent Budget, the Chancellor George Osborne said the deposits now required for mortgages have put homeownership beyond the reach of those who can't get help from their parents. His Help to Buy solution has two parts. First is the shared equity loan where the government will lend up to 20% of the cost of a new-build property to anyone who has raised a 5% deposit themselves. The loan is interest-free for five years and can be repaid at any time, or when the buyer sells the house. With the government's 20% and your 5%, you'll get access to the more attractive mortgage rates afforded to those with a 25% deposit to put down. This kind of help was previously only available to first-time buyers with family incomes below £60,000 under the NewBuy scheme, but Help to Buy will be available to anyone who wants to buy a new home, on any income. The scheme only applies to properties worth less than £600,000, but the Chancellor says this covers more than 90% of all homes. The second part of the government's promise is its Mortgage Guarantee, which will be offered to anyone who wants to buy a home - existing or new-build - but can't afford the deposit. It will be open to all homeowners, subject to the usual checks, and the same property value limit of £600,000 will apply. So would this help people like me who are struggling to afford to move to and get my own place? Probably not as I don’t have the cash behind me to do this plus rents age still far too high in the area I live in. “Young people today haven’t got a chance of buying a house at a reasonable price, even with rock-bottom interest rates. The Nationwide Building Society data shows that the average first-time buyer in London is paying over 50 per cent of their take-home pay in mortgage payments – and that is when interest rates are close to zero.” Homeless charity Shelter and PricedOut - a campaign group for first-time buyers and owner-occupiers - however, are among those opposed to the help to buy scheme. Shelter says the money would be better spent building more homes. Chief executive Campbell Robb said: "This Budget was a huge missed opportunity to build enough homes to make sure our children will have a stable and affordable place of their own. Helping a small number of first-time buyers today will do little to meet the aspirations of young families tomorrow." PricedOut spokesperson Duncan Stott said: "Pumping more money into a housing market with chronic under-supply has one sure-fire outcome: pushing up house prices. At best it may help a small number of new buyers, but it will mean housing becomes more expensive for all those that follow." Only a mass council housing programme can start to help the housing crisis which is getting worse by the month. Coupled with a capping of rents to a fair level too will help hugely too.

3400 people still on East herts housing waiting list still more homes needed

About 3,400 people are currently on East Herts Council’s housing register and a points system aims to prioritise those cases most in need. Changes to the system to make it fairer for all were proposed in March and introduced in May. They included new registration criteria, a maximum household income cap and more preference for those already living within the district. Since the changes, the waiting list has dropped from 3,600. I myself am on the waiting list for a council flat in the Hertford or Ware area and I’ve been bidding for properties for a good few years now. Quite clearly even in East Hertfordshire which isn’t a big area there is still huge demand for homes and affordable ones at that. With the possible development of Harlow North still undecided it is key housing is part of a development of the region. In ware and surrounding areas there is a lot of private renting going on and very little in the way of council properties. The council are claiming a drop in 200 off the waiting list in the last year which could have come about due to these so called changes to the points system brought in and also those who like me who have to renew their interest every so often may have missed out perhaps due to not remembering to renew. It is clear that there is a need for new council homes which young people in the area could benefit from who have to live at home with their parents due to the inability to move out to a place of their own. I will be told people can still rent in a private property but this is all very ell but we do live in an expensive area for renting. We live on the commuter belt to London and as a result rental prices are very expensive around the 500 pound mark and more. SO what we do need is more council homes being built. Affordable housing is a confusing concept officially it can mean 80% of market value which around here is still very unaffordable to many. So I’d suggest we need a rent control system with a cap on rents that landlords can charge as a first step. With this as a start and a development of new council homes a cap on rents not benefits could really start to help ease the situation. Of course this would have to be planned democratically and used sensibly with the input of local people and those on the waiting lists. We have a housing crisis in East Herts too aswell as elsewhere in the country this is an urgent problem that needs to be tackled. I don’t think there can be a solution or at least a long term one under capitalism. We do need a democratic socialist plan for housing to meet the needs of the people.

Make the bedroom tax unworkable

In similar ways the bedroom tax has been the straw that broke the camels back and a little like the infamous poll tax which saw Margret Thatcher finally defeated this bedroom tax could become David Cameron and the tories very own poll tax. We need to make this tax unworkable with mass resistance and mass civil disobedience needed to defeat this vicious tax. The socialist party says : • No evictions of tenants who fall into rent arrears as a result of austerity cuts. Organise local campaigns to oppose the tax and defend our homes • Stand candidates against councillors who try to evict us. Build a new mass workers' party that draws together workers, young people and activists from workplaces and anti-cuts campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the pro-cuts parties • Cap rents and build homes. Invest in a major programme of council house building and refurbishment to provide affordable homes for all and decent jobs • End low pay! If workers are paid a genuinely living wage they would not need to claim housing benefit • Fight all the cuts. Trade unions must build for a 24-hour general strike as the next major step in the campaign against austerity • For a socialist alternative to cuts and capitalism with a democratic socialist plan of production based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people - not the 1% Many of those actively taking part in anti bedroom tax campaigns are mostly those not affected by this tax but want to get involved and lend solidarity all the same. More the better i say. It says everything about the major movement and politicisation that could develop that most of those participating are not affected by the bedroom tax but are acting in solidarity. The rage against the rich and their political representatives is palpable - the sheer injustice of bankers' bailouts and their bonuses, MPs' expenses, pay-day loan sharks, foodbanks, food prices, unemployment. There is also an understanding that those in power will not cease their attacks on the working class and gains of the past such as social housing unless they are forced to. 'Spare room' myth-busting! Myth #1: people have 'spare' bedrooms So-called 'spare' rooms aren't spare at all. The government's criteria mean children and young people are forced to share bedrooms with siblings - up to 16 if they're the same sex. They don't take into account people's disabilities which might mean they occasionally need someone to stay over to help them or to sleep separately from their partner. And if parents are separated, only one is entitled to have a room for their child. Myth #2: the bedroom tax is going to 'encourage people into work' It's hard to encourage people into jobs that don't exist. In some areas there are up to 20 jobseekers for every vacancy. And the government continues to cut more jobs from the public sector. Figures have shown all the schemes they've tried, including their heralded Work Programme, have failed to increase the numbers getting jobs. Besides, many of those affected by the bedroom tax are already in work - 90% of new housing benefit claimants from 2010-2012 have a job but are so poorly paid they are still entitled to support with housing costs - a bailout for stingy, low-paying bosses. Myth #3: the bedroom tax will result in a reduced housing benefit bill The housing benefit bill is so big because of high rents - mainly in the private sector but now social landlords can charge 80% of the market rate too. Private sector rents have increased by 86% in 40 years. The best way to reduce it is to introduce a cap on rents. People have been forced to move to urban areas to look for work, increasing the need for affordable housing. But the amount of social housing being built has fallen at the same time as the existing stock has been sold off. What the government really wants to do is attack the welfare state in every way possible and to force working and middle class people to pay for the bankers' crisis. Myth #4: it's only fair to create parity with the private sector The reduction in housing benefit for a spare room in the private sector hasn't always existed either. And the real problem is that there isn't enough decent housing, and virtually none that is really affordable. People being hit by the bedroom tax have nowhere to move to because of the massive shortage of social housing - mainly as a result of decades of successive governments continuing the sell-off of council housing. Myth #5: the £500 benefit cap is only bringing benefits in line with average wages This figure doesn't include benefits that people in work have to claim, including child benefit and working tax credits. That so many people earn less than £500 is a disgrace, best tackled by increasing the minimum wage, not bringing benefits even further into poverty levels. Those who are fighting this savage attack should stand in elections and join other anti-cuts campaigners in building a new mass party, based on ordinary working class people, to put an alternative to austerity on the agenda.

Benefit cap, will it help people back into work as tories say it will ?

The Tories new benefit cap comes into affect today in several London Boroughs as a test before it’s rolled out across the whole of the country. e cap, being introduced in four London boroughs – Croydon, Bromley, Haringey and Enfield – will see couples and single parents receive no more than £500 a week in benefits. The limit for single people is £350, although there are some exemptions. National implementation of the cap will begin in July, and the policy is scheduled to come fully into force by the end of September. The cap is being brought in to cut spending and to bring benefits payments into line with average income. The aim is to get people back into work but I highly doubt it will do. If anything it will exasperate the housing crisis and harm those it’s meant to help. There is something that many in the media still do not understand there are just not the jobs out there for people to take. If there was don’t you think they’d take them given the amount of benefits they can get which is as we know now £53 a week which Iain Duncan Smith was challenged to try and live on? He has since shut up on that point. The benefit cap has been hailed as the answer to our so called benefits crisis and both labour and Tories support a benefit cap labour only differ by which cap it is and unsurprisingly they won’t give details on what they’d do. We suspect it’d be very similar to the Tories. In fact it’s not meant to help people at all its designed to set employed against the unemployed and so on. Its set to deepen divisions in communities as the suspicion of who is getting what heightens further due to this cap. The stigma around benefits increases and the government are being aided by their friends in the capitalist press who are playing the strivers and shirkers card hugely to ram home the minority of people frauding the system is lots of people. In fact benefit fraud in the UK is less than 1%. The government says those who rely on benefits should not have incomes above the national median. But things are rarely as simple as suggested by the coalition. Government is making £18bn of social security cuts on the back of a handful of high-profile cases splashed across the tabloids – typically showing large families living in opulent surroundings at taxpayers' expense. These exceptional cases will be dwarfed by the million families losing out. Families will be severely disadvantaged, some almost £400 a week worse off. People desperate to stay in their local area will have to downsize, making households overcrowded, or move into poorer quality accommodation. There will undoubtedly be a knock-on effect on other services, and children will be forced to move schools. Quite clearly we are in the midst of a huge housing crisis with over 5 million now on the housing waiting list with most forced into over crowded private rental accomadation. This is often sub standard and ridiculously expensive. A socialist government would instantly look to unroll a programme of a mass affordable homes building project while looking to cap private rents at an affordable level. We used to have rent capping at a fair rate why is this noteven gettinga echo today in 2013 ? It is due to the fact that all major political partiesnow see no alternative to the market system and have fell back on the market for so long they cannot see further than their nose. The socialist party and formally Militant has always called for rent caps not benefit caps. Buildign new affordable homes is just one part of a solution it is not everything though providing good well paid work for peopl is another. There is no shortage of things we need but for as long as we put up with a system based on profit first and whether something can make profit is the measure of whether something gets done or not we will not get the things we so badly need.

Is there really genuine support for the Tories welfare plans?

We hear in the news that there is mass support for the changes or as it should be being reported cuts to welfare and benefits by the Tories but is this really the case? Controlling the media and the news so what people see and red is a very powerful tool but I am not convince the support for these changes is really there. Much like with the issue over immigration I do think we have to admit there are some genuine concerns about people who do play the system and as socialist we must start from where people are. We must take on the Tories and even labours arguments that our welfare state is bloated as it is not at all its not too expensive. It certainly needs changes i.e. making wages liveable and a living wage capping rents and building new affordable social housing would bring down the housing benifitbill but for now it is something we should look to defend. As I tried to answer in a blogpost a few weeks back we must look to answer workers fears on benefits as with immigration looking to counter the Tories propaganda with our own of clear hard hitting facts. We are in danger of the debate being lost with the right in the ascendancy claiming big examples of people on benefits living a life of riley the reality is simply very different. With 9 out of 10 people on housing benefit in work these could hardly be called scroungers they are simply receiving the money to help pay ridiculously expensive rents in this country. Besides much of what is given on housing benefits goes straight into the pockets of greedy landlords in the private sector. Red Pepper has done some great research and tried to smash many of the benefit myths being put about to distort the issues. Welfare reform is almost inevitably contentious. Answering the question of who should receive how much financial support relies on often competing conceptions of fairness, with rival views about who needs, and who deserves, our help, not to mention the most just and efficient way of providing it. These issues are worth debating – but the current debate is being conducted on shoddy terms. Myths and stereotypes abound. These serve not only to unfairly stigmatise claimants, but to obscure the questions we might want to answer about how best the state can provide support to people who need it. Myth: There is a major problem of ‘families where generations have never worked’ Reality: The academics Paul Gregg and Lindsay MacMillan looked at the Labour Force Survey, the large-scale survey of households from which we get most of our statistics about who’s in work. In households with two or more generations of working age, there were only 0.3 per cent where neither generation had ever worked. In a third of these, the member of the younger generation had been out of work for less than a year. When they looked at longer-term data, they found that only 1 per cent of sons in the families they tracked had never worked by the time they were 29. What’s more, while sons whose fathers had experienced unemployment were more likely to be unemployed, this only applied where there were few jobs in the local labour market. So ‘inter-generational worklessness’ is much more likely to be explained by a lack of jobs than a lack of a ‘work ethic’. Myth: Most benefits spending goes to unemployed people of working age Reality: The largest element of social security expenditure (42 per cent) goes to pensioners. Housing benefit accounts for 20 per cent per cent (and about one fifth of these claimants are in work); 15 per cent goes on children, through child benefit and child tax credit; 8 per cent on disability living allowance, which helps disabled people (both in and out of work) with extra costs; 4 per cent on employment and support allowance to those who cannot work due to sickness or disability; 4 per cent on income support, mainly for single parents, carers and some disabled people; 3 per cent on jobseeker’s allowance; and 2 per cent on carer’s allowance and maternity pay, leaving 3 per cent on other benefits. Myth: Benefit fraud is high and increasing Reality: The latest Department for Work and Pensions estimates show that in 2011/12 just 0.7 per cent of benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud, including a 2.8 per cent fraud rate for jobseeker’s allowance and a mere 0.3 per cent for incapacity benefits. Even if we put together fraud with ‘customer error’ – people who are not entitled to benefits but not deliberately defrauding the state – the rate of false claims is 3.4 per cent for JSA and 1.2 per cent for incapacity benefit. The claim that benefit fraud is increasing is similarly false. Because there have been changes in how fraud has been calculated over time, we have to look at combined fraud and ‘customer error’ for JSA and income support. This declined from 9.4 per cent to 4.8 per cent of spending from 1997/98 to 2004/05, and has since stayed roughly flat. Myth: Couples on benefits are better off if they split up Reality: This one has recently been comprehensively disproved by research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, who concluded: ‘The simplest question that can be asked in testing the couple penalty is: does the benefits system provide a different proportion of a family’s daily living needs if they live together and if they live apart? The clear answer from the calculations in this paper is no. The benefits system provides very similar living standards to families living together and apart.’ Research in 2009 for the Department for Work and Pensions looked at whether different benefit systems had any impact on people’s decisions about whether to stay together or not. They concluded that ‘on balance, the reviewed literature shows that there is no consistent and robust evidence to support claims that the welfare system has a significant impact upon family structure’. Myth: The welfare bill has ballooned out of control Reality: The government has repeatedly claimed that welfare expenditure grew unsustainably under Labour. In fact, total expenditure on welfare was 11.6 per cent of GDP in 1996/97; under Labour it averaged 10.7 per cent up to the crash. Afterwards benefits for children and working age adults rose from an average 4.9 per cent of GDP up to 2007/08 to 6 per cent. This is what you would expect during a recession. Myth: Most benefit claims are long term Reality: The government persistently frames benefit claimants as ‘languishing in dependency’. So how much of the benefit caseload is long-term? It depends whether you count people at a single point in time or look at people moving on and off benefits over a period. The numbers paint a completely different picture. For example, in 2008, some 75 per cent of incapacity benefit claimants had been receiving the benefit for more than five years, and only 13 per cent for less than one year. But over the period 2003–8, only 37 per cent were long-term while 38 per cent were on benefit for less than a year. So if you count claimants at just one point in time, as government tends to do, you will overestimate how much of the caseload is long-term – and underestimate how many people move on and off benefits over time. Myth: Social security benefits are too generous Reality: Out of work benefit levels fall well below income standards based on detailed research into what ordinary people think should go into a minimum household budget. Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that while pensioners do in fact receive 100 per cent of what people think they need, a single adult of working age receives 40 per cent of the weekly minimum income standard and a couple with two children receives 62 per cent of the weekly minimum. Myth: Most people who claim disability benefits could be working Reality: There are two main kinds of disability benefits: disability living allowance (to cover the extra costs of disability) and employment and support allowance (income replacement for those not in employment). The most basic misunderstanding is that the latter is only for people who are ‘completely incapable of work’. The welfare reformer Sidney Webb commented in 1914 – in the midst of one of many previous panics about ‘true disability’ – that the only people who could do no work at all were ‘literally unconscious or asleep’. The question is whether suitable jobs exist, and whether these people would be able to get them. Once we understand this, three problems face us. First, just because we’re living longer doesn’t mean we’re in better health; improved medical care means that many people born with impairments or suffering traumatic injuries are able to live longer. Second, jobs are in some ways worse than in the early 1990s: people have to work harder and have less control over their job, which makes it more difficult for people with health problems to stay in work. And while we now have anti-discrimination legislation, this only forces employers to make ‘reasonable’ adjustments; the evidence not only suggests these are often limited, but that employers are less willing to employ disabled people as a result. Finally, many of the people claiming incapacity benefits are people with low employability in areas of few jobs. These are the very employers that are less likely to make adjustments. Some people end up in a situation where they are not fit enough to do the jobs they can get, but can’t get the jobs they can do. Completely incapable of work? Not necessarily. Penalised for their disability by a labour market that has no place for them? Definitely.

Grim picture for private renters in Herts time to cap rents now!

With the ever deepening housing crisis in Britain and with no political party prepared to do anything about the private sector which they bend over backwards to please. There is very little hope for young people today ever owning a property or being able to afford a rent. In Herts and Essex recent figures out are staggering. PRIVATE rents in Herts and Essex are set to see some of the steepest increases nationwide in the next decade, rising faster than property prices according to a new report from the National Housing Federation. The organization says years of not building enough homes will push charges in the East of England up by nearly two thirds (64 per cent) in just 10 years, compared to a 59 per cent rise nationwide. In Herts, this would mean rents rising from £902 per month to £1,478 per month – an extra £577 every month. Meanwhile, house prices in the East will rise 52 per cent, compared to 50 per cent nationwide. The picture is already bleak for the county’s renters: average rents in seven out of 10 districts – including East Herts - rose faster than incomes in 2012. Across the county, average private rents rose by four per cent while incomes actually dropped by two per cent. Three Rivers was hardest hit, with rents rising six per cent while incomes dropped 10 per cent, but in East Herts, rents rose from £839 in January, 2011 to £865 in Jan 2012, up three per cent while incomes dropped an average of six per cent. The NHF predicts monthly rents will hit £1,419 in 2022. In Essex rents are set to rise from £773 per month to £1,267 per month in the next decade. In Uttlesford costs have jumped from £832 in January last year to £834 this year – a hike of 0.3 per cent and monthly charges are estimated to hit £1,368 by 2022. Claire Astbury, East of England lead manager for the National Housing Federation, said it was crunch time for Herts and Essex’s “unsustainable housing market”, She said: “One in 16 East of England families is currently on the waiting list for social housing and it looks like the situation is going to get far worse. “Successive governments have failed to tackle the under-supply of housing. Now time is running out to fix the problem and a whole generation are at risk of being priced out of renting a home, let alone buying one. “Being unable to afford the homes they need can stop people from moving for work. It also prevents young couples from starting families, having a huge impact on people’s aspirations and ultimately affecting the economy. “Even working families are becoming more and more reliant on housing benefit to help pay their private rent. It’s clear that the chronic undersupply of new homes … needs to be tackled now, to ease the financial pressure for families and Government.” With extracts taken from http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/Homes-and-Gardens/Property/Rent-rise-gloom-for-Herts-and-Essex-families-19102012.htm According to the National Housing Federation there has been an 86% rise in employed people claiming housing benefit over the last 3 years- 417,830 more since 2009 Its time rent caps were introduced and properly enforced to make sure rents are always affordable to working class people. With a 37% increase in rents over the last 5 years. The Main cause is housing shortage. The case for massive council house building now is overwhelming

Britain’s housing crisis deepens urgent socialist policies needed

As we hear every week now reports of the deeding housing crisis in this country we hear of young people sofa surfing, sheds with beds horror stories and many many more homeless people than ever before. All the mainstream political parties make noises about this crisis but none have any solutions to the crisis at all. Under the last labour government fewer homes were built and even fewer affordable homes were built and yet they today lecture us on housing, pretty hypocritical. More than 1.6 million people aged 20-40 are still living with their parents because they cannot afford their own home, a report suggests. More than 5,000 people were surveyed by YouGov for housing charity Shelter. Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "These figures paint a vivid picture of 20- and 30-somethings in arrested development." In May the Office for National Statistics said 2.9 million people aged 20-34 were living with their parents. But some of those may have been living at home for cultural, medical or other reasons. According to the survey of 5,379 people, 41% do not believe their children will ever be able to save up for a deposit to get on the housing ladder. Yet I'm faced with a choice between living with my parents in my mid-thirties, and paying rents I can barely afford while somehow finding a huge deposit for a mortgage.” End Quote Dan Montefusco Of those living at home, 59% said it was harder to develop new relationships because of their domestic situation. Mr Robb said the housing crisis was "putting the brakes" on young people's aspirations. He said: "Our chronic lack of homes that young people can genuinely afford to rent or buy is at the root of the problem. "There's no doubt that young people are grateful to be able to live with mum and dad to save money, but we have to question whether it's acceptable that this is becoming the norm for people to live at home into their mid-30s - when we know that they are desperate to be independent and make their own way in the world." Mr Robb added: "As rents soar and deposits become even further out of reach, the government needs to look seriously at how it can meet these young people halfway, and make housing more affordable so that this generation and the next can get on in life." The survey suggested 35% of adults had been forced to move back in with their parents while nearly a quarter said their relationship with their parents had deteriorated as a result. Dan Montefusco, 35, from London, said: "For my parents' generation, it seemed possible to get on the housing ladder and see a steady progression in front of you: a career, a comfortable home that they could afford, a family. "Yet I'm faced with a choice between living with my parents in my mid-30s, and paying rents I can barely afford while somehow finding a huge deposit for a mortgage. "I've had to move back in with my parents a few times when I struggled to pay rent or find somewhere to live." What we need is a real socialist solution to this crisis removing the market and the private sector entirely. What we need is not nice words from tired out capitalist politicians we need a real change in society where homes are built for peoples needs not for profit. We should remove the profit motive from housing for good. A first step for this would be a cap on private sector rents and un do the cap on benefits until enough housing is built which by taking the wealth off of the rich we can afford the rich and big business is sitting on a estimated 800 billion even just a fraction of that could be used to build genuine affordable homes for young and old to live in a comfortable, safe and decent home for life with no worry of rents which cost the world or any threat of loosing your home. A home is a basic human right we should fight for that and dump the market for good. Capitalism cannot meet people’s needs so a socialist plan for the economy and the 99% is needed. And soon! With extracts from the bbc

Homelessness on the rise no answer can be found under capitalism

The number of households declared in need of emergency accommodation in England rose by about 25% over the past three years, new figures suggest. SSentif said some 50,290 families and individuals were classed as homeless in 2011/12, up from 40,020 in 2009/10. But the data company said spending on tackling homelessness had fallen from £213.7m to £199.8m over that period. Source: Shelter According to SSentif's figures, 6,120 more households were left homeless in 2011-12 compared to 2009-10. It said the highest percentage increase was in the East of England while the North East was the only region which saw a fall in the number of households declared homeless. SSentif's managing director Judy Aldred said some of the results for specific councils had been "quite shocking". "By analyzing the data at council level we were able to highlight some areas that are showing much greater increases than the national average," she said. "In Birmingham, where homelessness increased 25% from 2009-10 to 2010-11, spend dropped from £7.8m to £5.5mn (29%)." Local housing authorities are legally obliged to provide emergency housing for "priority need" groups without a home, such as households with dependent children. In the East of England where I live I have noticed the housing waiting lists steadily rising. Some will say this is due to the rise in immigration, I’d counter that by saying there simply isn’t the homes there for people and a mass council house genuinely affordable homes building programmed is needed today not sometime in the future. We have a serious housing crisis in this country which needs urgently addressing. Figures like this today shows the real impact of benefit cuts, cuts to local budgets and a huge failure of local councils Tory and labour to build enough homes for their residents. Even if you are lucky enough to still have a home the amount of disposable income individuals have to spend now at its lowest level for ten years at £273 a week says ONS. The Office for National Statistics. Just to compound the misery for many. Its time for socialist solutions to this crisis. There can be no solution under capitalism and the market it has proved it is incapable of meeting the needs of everybody.

What hope is there for young people today in Britain ?

The situation for young people looks bleak today. No longer can young people look forward to a career in their chosen field. They will be lucky to even get to go to university to train for such a career.

Today in Britain we face a possibility of loosing a whole generation to the scrap heap. Young people today growing up will be worse off than their parents before, that for me is shocking and a crying inditement of this rotten capitalist system driven by profit not to meet people’s needs.

With EMA cut, tuition fees trebled and education becoming increasingly marketwise it is little wonder young people are left feeling frustrated despondent and helpless. With over 1 million young people out of work or training and continuing to raise this could be if it’s not already a very serious situation.

Quite simply there is just not the job out there it’s not the case that young people are lazy, feckless, work shy or any of the normal rubbish that is flung their way.

Youth fight for jobs is looking to give young people a voice to speak out about the plight of young people.

I featured an article on the austerity games held on Monday in London and this is just one part of Youth fight for jobs campaign to raise the idea of changing society to benefit young people who currently see no future.

The slogan “we won’t be a lost generation, fight for jobs and education” is very fitting and has been popularised throughout the student movement and beyond.

Students, young people and workers need to unite their common struggles groups like Youth fight for jobs which I think are unique as I don’t believe there are any other groups looking to give working class young people a voice again. Currently no political party cares or speaks for them. We need a party of our own a mass workers party putting forward an alternative which puts people’s needs first and ends the drive for profit over everything else.

I can fully understand young people’s anger and frustration at a lack of opportunities with a lack of jobs benefits being cut and being forced to work for your doll are all aimed to demonise young people. Luckily young people in Youth fight for jobs are fighting back and giving a lead.

We call for education to be completely free for all and higher education to be a right not a commodity that can be sold to the highest bidder, likewise with housing young people face a far more harder time getting on the housing ladder we believe housing should be a human right shelter should not be marketised and people’s needs should be met. If there are not the homes then we feel one solution should be to embark on mass real affordable homes not the 80% of market rate the Tories currently claim is affordable, real affordable homes where young people have a place to call their own. This would not only go some way to solving the housing crisis in this country but would at the same time put people back to work in construction industry and home developments making the new homes green and efficient to last in to the future. We have key demands that young people can take up pointing to councils like Southwark where EMA has been reintroduced and say if Southwark can do this why can’t other councils.

Do not accept the money is not there it is. It is locked up in the vaults of big business currently sitting pretty on 800 billion pounds they refuse to invest as they do not see any profitable outlet. We say that money should be progressively taxed and used to invest in public works which pay a good rate a living wage and are socially useful to society. With these key demands i’ve outlined young people can start to see a future a future for the 99% a future for all.

Housing crisis deepens as cuts bite, Olympic legacy a farce

With housing benefit cuts starting to take affect we are seeing a sharp increase in the rate of homelessness across the country but felt no more so than in our capital city of London.

Repossessions 2010 = 36,300, Repossessions 2011 = 36,200 and the Forecast for 2012 = 'Worse' than the previous year’s still.
There has been a 44% increase in households who are homeless after repossession... ½ effectively.
In what is an Olympic year in London all the hype is around the games and how much of a benefit they will be to us and the capital city well is this true we wonder.
Looking closer at the so called Olympic legacy it is a disgrace that ordinary working people will not benefit from them at all and in affect is a profiteering exercise which we have thought all along.
Let’s take Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest will have 107 homes between them. Built in the next period. How is that even going to make a dent in the housing waiting list which currently stands at over 5 million across the country this is nowhere near enough.

Of the 2,818 homes left after the Olympics only 675 will be social housing. The idea of the market in housing is sickening to me when many people can’t get a home and a roof over their head while greedy landlords and market forces are making a killing out of people who pay huge amounts for small places and in often poor conditions too.
The fact that London renting charges are over double the national average it is London where this crisis on housing is felt most. Youth fight for jobs has launched a housing campaign for a programme of mass social housing building to be started. Looking to build a million homes affordable rents for the next 5 years. We hope this gains an echo at this time and is taken up by the trade unions that can campaign on this issue.
The fact that this will also create much needed jobs in building these houses could provide people with hope and a future. Constructions companies can then re employ workers and start helping workers out who are in need of jobs too at the moment.

Housing will continue to be a big issue and is something we as socialists are very keen to point out the failures of the market on. Yet another area the market has failed the majority of people and that should be planned for people’s needs over the profits of a few.

I myself am still having to live at home at the age of 23 as I simply cannot afford to move out being on such low wages also there is absolutely no council housing available in East Hertfordshire that I can get. I am on the waiting list but there are thousands of others on it. This is a growing issue and needs tackling before it explodes.

private rents in 55% of local authorities unaffordable, demand decent affordable housing now

Just 12% of areas in England have affordable rents, research by housing charity Shelter found
Private rents are now unaffordable in 55% of local authorities in England, the housing charity Shelter has said.

Homes in these areas cost more than 35% of median average local take-home pay - the level considered unaffordable by Shelter's Private Rent Watch report.

The charity said 38% of families with children who rent privately have cut back on buying food to help pay rent.

Shelter's research found rents had risen at one-and-a-half times the rate of incomes in the 10 years up to 2007.

'Dramatic impact'

It said private rents in 8% of England's local authorities were "extremely unaffordable" - with average rents costing at least half of full-time take-home pay.

Just 12% of areas were affordable, it added.

Shelter analysed two-bedroom homes because they were so widely found and used Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics data.



Average monthly rent for two-bedroom home in London is £1,360 - almost two-and-a-half times more than the rest of England
Kensington and Chelsea is the highest at £2,714 a month
Burnley in Lancashire the lowest at £394 a month
Oxford is the least affordable area outside London
Blackpool is the least affordable in north of England
Source: Shelter



It is high time we started to demand decent affordable housing for all. Not just a few or just for those who are in work like Ed Miliband likes to put forward. There is no reason why everyone shouldnt have a right to a decent affordable home for themselves. The fact that successive governments have turned a blind eye to this housing crisis is to their eternal shame. Even a labour government did not build nearly enough affordable homes in their time in government. With Ed Miliband coming out at his conference in support of Margret Thatchers right to buy scheme it shows where his and his parties priorities lay. Not with the working class.



We say :
§ Build a million affordable new homes to ease the housing crisis immediately.
§ Nationalise the construction industry, banks and financial institutions, under democratic workers' control and management.


then look to build more homes as the need is wanted. This will not only provide new decent affordable homes for ordinary people but will provide jobs in the construction industry which has seen its work hit as a lack of building projects as a result of the cuts. This could be just one way of getthing things moving again. Of course as socialists we'd want to go further but this would be a key first step and would make a big difference to many ordinary working class people today.