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More than half of all private rents “unaffordable“

More than 55% of all private rents in English local authorities are unaffordable, according the a Shelter survey.

The BBC reports than many homes in these areas cost more than a third of the average local take home pay, which Shelter believes is unacceptable.

While the Housing Minister Grant Shapps believes he and the government have cut down in the red tape which pushes up rents, Shelter also found that almost 40% of families living in rental properties have been forced to cut back on buying food to pay rent.

Shelter also found that 8% of private rents were “extremely unaffordable”, costing at least half of an individuals take home pay. Only 12% was deemed to be affordable.

Chief executive of Shelter, Campbell Robb was disappointed by the results, which have forced people to “cut their spending on essentials like food and heating, or uproot and move away from jobs schools and families.:

Manchester and Birmingham were found to be some of the most affordable areas, while rural pats of the country were found to be highest relative to income.

The Housing Minister is now calling for more homes to be built, and promised that councils would be rewarded for freeing up public land to build on.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .