Jane is a junior doctor working several extra locum shifts to make ends meet. Burnt out after the pandemic, and struggling with her physical and mental health, she would really like to take unpaid leave, but she cannot afford to do so. Last month, her landlord hiked up her rent, then served her with an eviction notice when she said she couldn’t afford it. She now has to move for the fourth time in three years, and is back in a flat-hunting market where rents are higher everywhere.
She feels trapped, she tells me. Trapped in her job, with her accommodation options diminishing and her time permanently constrained by balancing long work hours with the demands of looking for a home. There is no space for socialising or relaxation, only for a fleeting sleep, from which she wakes up to go back to work, to look at places to live that are almost certainly out of her reach, and to run her numbers again, hoping that an overlooked saving will magically appear.
