Good morning. Too many people and not enough properties has meant that, for years, those living in urban centres have forked out extortionate amounts on rent. This New York Times piece from 2006 highlights the brutal obstacle course endured by would-be tenants who were in some cases expected to earn $80,000-$90,000 to rent a $2,000-a-month studio apartment. Eight years later, the Guardian ran a piece highlighting the growing gulf between London and the rest of the country (at that point, average London rent was £1,516 a month.)
Those examples now seem quaint; according to Rightmove the average rent across all property types in London was £2,343 a month between July and September this year, with prospective tenants now going through a rigmarole of endless, pressurised viewings, interviews and background checks. Finding a home now brings together the worst parts of dating and applying for a job. Except that at the end of it you don’t get a bump in salary or the love of your life, but instead strangers for room mates and, potentially, a mould problem, all for a third to half of your paycheque. Robert Booth wrote a brilliant, humanising piece on the people at the sharp end of this crisis, speaking to three tenants who are facing evictions after their landlords unexpectedly raised rent.
