Bristol Live has launched its own Bristol Rent Crisis campaign, highlighting the sorry state of the rental market in our city. The problem has prompted mayor Marvin Rees to propose rent controls, though it remains to be seen if he'll be granted the powers to trial it.
In the meantime, the issues continue to get worse. Grown-up kids are still living with their parents; parents still have their grown-up kids living with them.
Young couples can't afford to save a deposit for their own home thanks to extortionate rents. Others are placed in dangerous housing.
Read more: Bristol Live launches Bristol Rent Crisis campaign
And people who've grown up in the city or who work here can no longer afford to live here. Something has to change.
In response to our campaign launch, people have been sharing their own experiences, as well as their thoughts on how we got here. SocialistHero wrote: "Us landlords have to turn a profit otherwise we would be out on the street." The same commenter also said young people "just need to knuckle down, get a better paid job so you can afford a house".
Another commenter, Tim1427, said: "The main reasons for increases in rent are Government legislation (tax increases, energy and safety improvement requirements and all the checks on people to be able to rent) and renters' expectations (sorry it all can't be brand new fixtures and fittings on each let each time)."
Read more: The staggering number of homes sitting empty in Bristol
Others pointed the finger at the universities for not building more housing while admitting more students, while another, Sithl0rd, said: "The vast majority of rented properties were bought for a fraction of today's cost, and the reason for the sharp increase is down to letting agents pushing the landlords to raise the rent every year, which wasn't common when people let privately without using an agency.
"Each year you'll get your review for each property with a note that says the average rent in the area is now more than you're charging, why not make some extra money? Of course, that also increases their commission.
"You can't have infinite economic growth, and causing an ever widening wealth divide isn't really in anyone's best interest. A service industry can't thrive when no-one can afford the service provided.
"The fool move was not capping it sooner, and the council telling people to move into privately rented accommodation instead of dealing with the problem decades ago. Now the council is paying two-to-three times as much in housing benefit as they would if it was their own property and because it's been going on so long they have no money to build enough housing or bring existing housing up to scratch.
"The more people priced out of the rental market the more end up reliant on Homechoice. If private renting reflected the actual cost incurred by the landlord to rent a property then there would be less strain.
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"It's not the economics of supply and demand, it's widespread price fixing by agencies who now have enough of a portfolio to work together to raise rents across entire cities. Greed drives it, not just property prices."
Burles54 said the problem was "greedy buy-to-let landlords", adding that the "Government should cap all rents in line with council rents, it'll stop these greedy landlords".
The average price of a first-time buyer's property in Bristol is now £295,243 - over 10 times the average UK salary.
Read more - Rent crisis in Bristol: 'I rely on financial help from my parents just so I can afford to live'
Read more: Bristol mum-of-seven paying £1,250 in rent for house with 'rat and mould'
Also read: Care home in south Bristol could be converted into house for homeless
