Dear Government, You Are Wrong.

The Housing Crisis In The UK

Today in the UK we have a housing crisis, which is leaving many people across the housing sector struggling.

Many can't afford to buy or rent privately, and many have circumstances such as being unable to work due to severe difficulties, disability, or illness. Some of these difficulties can be long-term.

A lot of people in these circumstances are on the benefits system.

They are not all lazy or frauds. Some of these people have genuine reasons as to why they can't work, and some of those who can't work are able to find alternative ways to better themselves.

(like myself and my husband who are using our passion for writing to try and build our own income stream).

It can be a severe struggle for some people, in some circumstances to rent privately. Everyone has different circumstances, and not everybody can afford to pay a double deposit and three months rent upfront, and not everyone can provide a guarantor.

Many people are unwilling to be a guarantor for renters, because they are expected to pay the rent if the tenant can't pay it, and sometimes they are expected to pay triple times more than the rent itself.

Credit status can be a problem too, especially in cases where a private renter comes from a vulnerable financial background which has affected their credit status badly.

Private landlords want to be reassured that they are going to get paid their rent on time, and a bad credit status is not always trusted.

Landlords can also choose to sell their properties, which in some cases; can leave vulnerable tenants who are on benefits struggling to find other accommodations, and puts tenants, including families with children at risk of homelessness.

The councils in the UK cannot always help with homelessness. Many of these people end up in less-than-suitable accommodations or hostels which are far from safe for children.

Some of these people and families may have been in circumstances such as domestic violence, and they may have severe financial difficulties which may not help them in the private sector at all.

Our councils have had a housing crisis that has been occurring since before the pandemic.

The reality is there is not enough council housing, and no money left for them to build much-needed council homes.

While our government is faced with its own problems and debts. They must prioritize the state of affairs with housing because we will end up in a bigger crisis in years to come if we don't do something now.

They could start by giving the council more funding for the council housing system. I understand we are in times of difficulty, but councils cannot prioritize housing without the funds to do so.

Given the extent of the crisis, I would have thought the government would have seen this as important.

My Housing Experience

I have written stories about my past experiences with homelessness, and how that came about. You can read one of those stories here:

I want to add a little more information as to what happened after I and my husband moved to Scarborough.

In 1998, after I left the hospital I moved into a really nice private flat with my husband, however, I was still in the middle of trying to get my two boys back from the system, and I was told to move back to Leeds.

I felt uncomfortable moving back there after all the violence that I had previously been through, but I did it for my children.

We did apply to the council housing register, after taking a private house. However, they could only offer me a house back in one of the areas where I had been severely abused.

I did not want that for my children. I wanted more security and not a life that would force me to relive my past.

We tried to apply for Morley, where my mum and stepfather lived. Despite having many ups and downs with my mum; if I had to stay in Leeds, I knew they would have helped me.

I grew up in Morley, and despite my difficulties with bullying, I liked it there. I would have been able to rebuild my life better for myself and my children if I had been re-housed there.

We were told that there would be a 20-year waiting list. That would not have been good for the children in our eyes, or in the eyes of the children's services who were involved with us at that time.

We took a private house in East End Park in Leeds, which was a really nice house, but it wasn't long before we ran into difficulties as our house wasn't big enough for the boys to grow up in, and I found out that I was pregnant. We desperately wanted to get back into Scarborough, so after many long months of searching, we found a private house on Murchinson Street. We were happy here for around two years, but the landlord died and the family wanted to sell the property, which put us back into housing difficulties.

We wanted to apply to Scarborough council, but at that time we were told it could be 30 years before we were housed, even with priority.

We searched everywhere in Scarborough for private housing but we were turned down on the basis of not being able to work, income, and even because we had children.

We weren't getting anywhere, so we moved closer to my husband's family. We chose Bournemouth

We moved to Bournemouth in 2003, and we were in many private properties to begin with, most of which were so run down, they were not fit to have children in.

It seemed that the only private properties we were getting that allowed benefits, were coming from those landlords who could not afford to maintain their properties and were struggling.

Eventually, we managed to get a council home in Bournemouth, where we have been for over 20 years. However, since then, we have:

• Struggled with repairs and getting things done in the garden to enable us to make it right
• Struggled with space. While our house is big, the rooms are odds-haped which means there are some rooms where we struggled to put two children's beds in.
• Struggled with some other tenant's behavior, despite trying to talk it through.
• At times struggled with the rent, due to pay from the DWP being delayed

Where Are We At Today?

• Our children are all grown up and have moved on with their lives, though we are now planning one more before it is too late.

• My husband has disabilities and has waited over three years for adaptations to be done to the property.
• We still haven't managed to get the council to make the property more manageable.
• We are living in a large four bedroomed house, which is unsuitable for us. In legal terms, we would be classed as under-occupied. However, this house is supposed to be suitable for people with disabilities despite the tiny bathroom, steep staircase, steep steps, and unmanageable large gardens. My husband was told he can not be moved by a doctor, however; on medical grounds, this house is affecting him more than a move to suitable accommodation would.

We understand the housing crisis, but we also understand wholeheartedly the many difficulties people are faced with in the private and council sectors.

We are going to help ourselves by trying to get our writing careers off the ground and move to private accommodation in another location where we have friends, and where the cost of living is not as high as it is in the south. We hope to be able to get to a point where we can secure our future and buy a suitable property.

Private housing is not suitable for everyone, and after having experience in private renting, I can also understand why some landlords are cautious with people on benefits.

However, we are not all the same.

However, I do have one question.

Why should private landlords have to be the ones to clean up the housing crisis, which has been primarily caused by the government in the first place?