There’s a mayoral campaign going on in London, and one of the key issues will be housing.
When I left university and moved back to London, I was able to get flats reasonably cheaply, sharing with friends – all right, one place was sublet from the council in a frankly dodgy way, and another was burgled when someone burst through the roof (luckily the day after we moved out). But they were affordable and habitable – more or less. Any problems were probably caused by our own appallingly lackadaisical hygiene standards.
But that was then. There were flats to be had. Now there aren’t. It’s that simple.
Housing is now close to number one on my list of top worries for my children’s future (along with drugs, booze, unsuitable boyfriends/girlfriends, tattoos, piercings, not getting a job, getting a rubbish job, blah, blah, blah …. just read the Daily Mail and jot down a few bits of bonkers paranoia at random and I’ve probably got them waaaay up there on my list)
There’s a housing crisis all across the UK, but it is worse in London – the average price of a home here now is around £400,000 – not far off half a million, for goodness’ sake. Who on earth can afford that in their twenties, thirties or even forties?
It’s the reason you see people sleeping rough on London’s streets – a shocking and shameful thing at the heart of our capital city. And it’s also why so many people in their 20s move back in with their parents. I must admit, I am secretly looking forward to this. But my children aren’t. And I also do know that they need to have independent lives.
Have a look at Shelter’s video. The message is simple. The next Mayor will get new powers to fix housing in London. Shelter believes that housing deserves the same commitment as London’s transport. We’ve already got Transport for London. Now the Mayor must create Homes for London and fix London’s housing.
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Sponsored by Shelter