Looking for cheap rent in London? Just become an artist then
Proposals this week to implement cheap rents for London’s artists show how the the city’s housing crisis makes an absurdity of good intentions, and indicates why a closer link to universality rather than targeting is needed to make renting affordable again in the capital.
London’s turning – Towards a sustainable private rented sector under the new Mayor
Today Generation Rent publishes ‘London’s Turning: Towards a sustainable private rented sector under the new Mayor’, our call on Sadiq Khan to act rapidly and boldly in his response to the capital’s housing crisis.
UCL Rent Strike
On 3rd July, there will be a mass demonstration over the extortionate rent levels charged by University College London to their students.
How the next Mayor of London can start fixing the housing crisis
As the major parties choose their mayoral candidates for the 2016 London elections, today Generation Rent publishes a manifesto for London that that sets out a programme that any Mayor who is serious about the private rented sector should adopt. Whoever wins in May will have to be robust in demanding new powers to regulate the sector, so it’s vital that politicians understand how hard private renters are being squeezed in the capital. Today renters can call on them to commit to solving the London housing crisis.
Open letter from Butterfields tenants: ‘We do not intend to give up our homes without fighting’
Private tenants on the Butterfields Estate in London’s Waltham Forest are facing evictions from affordable homes they have lived in for years, after they were sold on without their knowledge. Previously owned by a charitable trust that ensured tenancies were secure and affordable, the two streets of homes were bought up by a private business (BE17Ltd) at the start of this year.
Controlling rents: A response to the private renting affordability crisis
Today Generation Rent has published a proposal for a flexible rent control policy, aimed first at London but applicable to anywhere where the rent is too high. Diane Abbott MP has kindly written the foreword.
Half of Londoners want a house price fall
Alex Hilton (me) brandishing the Evening Standard today
The Evening Standard today splashes on an exclusive YouGov poll in which 50% of Londoners want house prices to decrease. The Housing Minister Kris Hopkins, Chancellor George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson have all stated publicly that they want house price rises to continue.
With half of Britain’s renters in London and the South East, these powerful politicians are increasingly at odds with the public’s day to day experience of the economy. They are also ignoring warnings from the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, who has called the current state of the housing market “the biggest single threat to the economic recovery”.
Right now, politicians seem happy for a free housing market to grind down renters as long as homeowners and landlords are content, and so they have offered no real solutions. We have offered a solution. Our paper, Buying out of the Bubble, outlines how a secondary, bubble-free housing market can be developed, offering low cost housing to people willing to forego free market-level returns in capital gain or rents.
A secondary housing market would provide affordable housing for those people who just want a home, not an investment, while insulating the free market from what will otherwise become a traumatic market adjustment, with dire consequences for London’s economy.
Sign up as a supporter of Generation Rent and help us win a better deal for renters.
Alex Hilton
Director, Generation Rent
London Assembly backs our Renters’ Manifesto
London Assembly members voted this afternoon to back Generation Rent’s Manifesto. This is a fantastic endorsement of the work we are doing from politicians in the heart of the country’s housing crisis.
Two million people – a quarter of the London population – rents from a private landlord, and the unaffordability, poor conditions and insecurity of tenure are all high on the agenda. A poll from the Association of Residential Letting Agents today said that 43% of London’s renters have had reservations about their landlord or letting agent on day one of their tenancy.
London needs homes, not ‚Äòinvestments’
As the latest House Price Index reveals an annual increase of 19.6% in the cost of London homes, the MIPIM property fair rolls into the capital tomorrow. MIPIM is a forum focused on international investment in housing, which brings together tens of thousands of investors, property developers, politicians and landlords to discuss how best to make huge amounts of money from housing in cities across the world.
Boris’ Rental Standard may not help a single tenant
Today (Wednesday 28th May) in Haringey, London Mayor Boris Johnson launches his refreshed London Rental Standard, an accreditation scheme for landlords. We’re not impressed and doubt this scheme will help one single tenant.