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The charity says the document, which warned of the damaging environmental effect of intensive chicken production, ‘did not meet our rigorous standards’

The Mail on Sunday ran an article in which former RNLI volunteers accused the charity of creating an atmosphere where volunteers were ‘mistreated’

Renting in London is impossible for a range of key workers, with the median private rent in Inner London worth 106% of a teaching assistant’s salary, according to new research.

Analysis of 15 key and essential worker roles by campaign group Generation Rent shows that not a single borough of Inner London is affordable for roles across education, healthcare, social care, construction, retail, commerce, and hospitality.

Generation Rent is calling on candidates for the London mayoralty to demand powers to control rents and commit to building many more social homes in the capital if they win in May.

A home is considered affordable if it costs 30 percent or less of a person’s income. The average proportion of incomes required to cover the market-rate rent for the median one-bedroom home is more than 100% of teaching assistants’ incomes, and exactly 100 percent of kitchen assistants’ incomes.

Not a single one of Greater London’s 32 boroughs is affordable for people working in jobs such as bus drivers, care workers, cleaners, community nurses, hairdressers, painters and decorators, sales assistants and teaching assistants.

Teaching assistants experienced the most affordability issues of the roles analysed in this research – whose most affordable London borough is Sutton (62% of income spent on median rents) and least affordable is Westminster, with almost one and a half (145%) times their income required to cover average rents.

For the five lowest-paid jobs, there are four boroughs – the City of London, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster – where average rent costs more than the entire salary.

Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, said: ‘Just a few years ago we were clapping on our doorsteps every week for key workers. Now they risk being driven out of our city because of soaring rents. For communities to survive, local people must be able to stay healthy, receive an education, find a safe home to live in and purchase basic goods. But, if those working in vital jobs cannot afford to live in the area, everyone loses out.

‘The current cost of renting crisis is devastating London’s communities. It is vital that England’s metro mayors have the power to slam the brakes on local rents and give our key workers the breathing space they need to live and work in their community. It is also vital that the mayor and the government build more affordable homes in the capital and increase how much social housing is available.’

Image: Giammarco Boscaro

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On 6th March 2024 chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver the government’s Spring Budget. Here’s what housing experts think this will mean for their sector.

The Spring Budget, or just the Budget, is when the government updates the public on the state of the UK economy, shares projections made by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and announces its fiscal plans for the year ahead. On Wednesday, Mr Hunt is expected to announce this year’s plan, just four months after he delivered the Autumn Statement.

However, as the UK has been involved in a financial crisis since the cost-of-living began to rise in 2021, the public aren’t hopeful that his statement will contain good news. Speaking on Sunday with British journalist Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Hunt said he wanted to move Britain towards becoming a lower-tax economy, but that he would only be able to do so ‘as and when we can afford it.’

Pulling the plug on any kind of hopes for a huge package of giveaways, Mr Hunt expressed that the most ‘unconservative’ thing he could do would be to announce tax cuts funded by higher borrowing.

Mr Hunt said: ‘This will be a prudent and responsible budget for long-term growth.’

With this message in mind, various housing experts have collected their thoughts on what the budget may have in-store for their industry.

Daniel Austin, CEO and co-founder at ASK Partners, said: ‘With housing set to be a battleground point in this year’s election, it is expected to feature heavily in Wednesday’s Budget. As the sector moves to the top of the agenda for all parties, we hope to see a long-term plan for new homes, including social housing, however, we expect we will see more short-term fixes. Stimulus will be become but can create unnecessary froth.’

‘Voters and developers alike will be keenly listening out for housing policy in the Budget. For voters, a stamp duty holiday or reprieve may be a welcome sign,’ Daniel said. ‘For developers, eased planning regulations for brownfield sites and conversions will be popular.’

Daniel added: ‘However, the government will be faced with a challenge – striking a balance between trying to increase housing supply and therefore affordability by supporting developers and private landlords but appealing to voters who do not want to see greenfield development. The planning system remains hotly political and as a result, landlords and developers are unlikely to see much in their favour.’

In addition, Karen Charles, executive director of Boyer, echoed similar views. She said: ‘The list of what the Chancellor could introduce to bring forward more new homes is considerable. 

‘From my point of view, we need to see initiatives to support the delivery of homes in sustainable communities with high quality placemaking and healthy neighbourhoods in settlements where people want to live such as large villages and towns, alongside high-density housing on urban brownfield sites which is the government’s preference. There is a need for balance and the delivery of a variety of homes in a mix of locations to meet different housing needs.’

The focus on delivering more homes comes from the government’s frequent failure to meet housebuilding targets. According to their own statistics, the government failed to meet the goal of delivering 300,000 new homes, despite an additional 234,000 homes being added to England’s housing stock in 2022-23. In 2022, government figures show 212,570 new builds were delivered alongside 22,160 properties which were changed from non-domestic to residential and 4,500 houses which were converted to flats.

Another problem that is currently plaguing the housing sector is how much it costs to buy your first property. Tim Foreman, managing director of land and new homes at Leaders Romans Group, claims this should be a government priority.

Time said: ‘Since the government ended the Help to Buy scheme it has become increasingly difficult for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder, with many having to find huge sums of money to use as their deposit. I would like to see the government turn its attention to first time buyers, appreciating the difficulties that they face and enabling them to make the very important first step on to the ladder – and in doing so, getting the market moving for thousands of others.’

Moreover, speaking about property costs as a whole, Sarah Thompson, managing director at Mortgage Scout, said: ‘All that we in the mortgage industry ask of the chancellor is that he concentrates on lowering interest rates.’

‘This means getting inflation under control – admittedly no mean feat – so that the Bank of England can take a majority decision to reduce interest rates,’ Sarah said. ‘In the past few months members of the Monetary Policy Committee have expressed a desire to do so; we’re halfway there.’

She added: ‘Once interest rates begin to come down, the housing market will react quickly. Addressing both the cost-of-living crisis and the housing crisis, this will result in a win-win for both politicians and the electorate.’

Images: Ant Clausen and Melinda Nagy

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Rough sleeping has soared by 27% in a year while the number of homeless children in temporary accommodation has hit another record high, according to government figures.

The latest snapshot figures on the number of people sleeping rough in England in 2023 revealed that 3,898 people were recorded sleeping rough on a given night, a 27% rise since 2022.

The number of people sleeping rough in England has more than doubled since 2010 when the data started being collected – up 120%.

Housing charity Shelter said these annual figures were likely to be an underestimate, as people who sleep in less visible locations can be missed.

Separately, new statutory homelessness figures show homelessness reaching new highs in England between July and September 2023:

• 109,000 households are homeless in temporary accommodation – another record high figure and up 10% in a year
• There are 142,490 children who are homeless – another record and up 16,960 (14%) in a year
• In total 78,460 households in England faced homelessness between July and September 2023

With a general election on the horizon, Shelter called on all political parties to commit to ending the housing emergency by building 90,000 social homes a year with rents tied to local incomes.

A report published by Shelter and the National Housing Federation (NHF) said that building 90,000 social homes would not only pay for itself in terms of economic and social benefits within three years, but would add more than £50bn to the economy in the long term.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: ‘[These] figures are further proof that the government cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the housing emergency. Far from ending rough sleeping, through its own ineffectiveness the government has allowed it to more than double on their watch, while the number of children homeless in temporary accommodation hits yet another shameful high.

‘We haven’t built enough social homes in decades, and with rents at a record high, thousands of people are being forced to spend their nights freezing on street corners. Meanwhile families are being pushed into grim hostels and B&Bs miles away from their support networks and where children have to share beds.

‘Ignoring a crisis of this magnitude cannot continue. Everyone at risk of street homelessness should be provided with suitable emergency accommodation. But the only lasting solution is for the government and all political parties to commit to build genuinely affordable and good quality social homes – we need 90,000 a year.’

Image: Jon Tyson

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