London’s chronic housing crisis remains a hot topic after the resignation of the homelessness minister, Rushanara Ali.
The MP resigned on Thursday after being accused of being a ‘hypocrite’ for raising the rent at her property by £700.
Ali was accused of getting rid of four tenants in her townhouse in Bow, east London, before relisting the property for more money shortly after.
Her office insisted the house was relisted for rent only after no buyer was found, and that the tenants were not evicted, but were given the option to stay while the property was up on the market.
The previous tenants paid £3,300 for the home, and the rent was upped to £4,000 when it was relisted, the i Paper reported.
The rent rise highlights the endemic issues plaguing people in London – unaffordable rents, lack of houses, homelessness, and damp and mould.
Here is a roundup of what is going on with housing in London.
Sky-high rents
Millions of people are renting from private landlords in the capital – around 2.7 million. And it is not a cheap affair as 37.9% of Londoners’ income goes towards rent, figures from HomeLet show.
It can be difficult to even find a rented home as properties are being snatched within minutes of adverts going up, with homes often going to those able to pay several months’ worth of rent upfront which can decimate savings and lead to debt.
People face a toxic cocktail of rising rents and fewer available homes, causing people to move out of London in droves.
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Only around 5% of privately rented homes in London are considered affordable for people in receipt of a housing benefit, according to Trust for London.
Leaving London has become a dream for many young people trapped in expensive city living, but the exact number of people escaping is difficult to nail down.
Outmigration from London reached 5.7% last year, according to analysis from real estate company Hamptons, which is still lower than the 8.2% peak in 2022, when almost 250,000 people are estimated to have left the capital.
While the coronavirus pandemic saw a momentary fall in rent prices, the average rent in the capital has crept back up.
Across the UK, nearly half of renters – around 1.7 million – are just one paycheque away from being homeless.
Rising homelessness
Housing experts have warned that the crisis in London is spiralling out of control.
The cost-of-living crisis has meant that many, especially those on low incomes or working in precarious jobs, have not been able to make ends meet, the charity Crisis has said.
Latest figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) reveal that 4,392 people slept rough in London between April and June this year – a 4% increase on the previous year.
Rick Henderson, the chief executive of Homeless Link charity, which works directly with people experiencing homelessness, told Metro: ‘It is appalling that so many lives are being destroyed by being pushed into rough sleeping, in London and across the country. This data is yet more proof that too many people are being trapped on the streets and that the current support system is at breaking point.’
Thousands more people are also hidden homeless – instead of sleeping on the streets, they are living in temporary accommodation, hostels, sofa surfing or in overcrowded conditions, often out of sight.
'Politicians shouldn't be allowed to be landlords'
The Rushanara Ali story sparked thousands of reactions from Metro readers, with many calling her to be sacked or to resign, which Ali did so on Thursday.
Liba Kaucky said it was ‘quite right too’ of her to resign, saying that the rent increase was ‘an outrageous thing to do.’
Christine Browne commented on the increased rent: ‘I live in Bow, it’s not worth that rent I can tell you that for nothing.’
Jan Oons said: ‘Maybe politicians should not be receiving any income other than their parliamentary wage to avoid any conflict of interests?’
Stephen Locking said: ‘Broken housing industry.’
Stephen Wilde commented: ‘We’ve the same problem Ireland, sitting politicians shouldn’t be allowed be landlords. Conflict of interest in making big decisions will always be an issue.’
Mike Dixon defended the MP, saying she ‘wanted to sell the property with vacant possession: fair enough.’
‘After not selling she has put it back out for rental. Perhaps she did not increase the rent of previous tenants and now was charging market rate.’
Mark Coleman said: ‘Nothing she did was illegal.’
Rob Kavanagh said: ‘She gave them four months notice and there’s been no overreach of ministerial powers, nothing to see here. Leave the woman alone.’
Sara Jane said: ‘Well, reading the article she didn’t make them homeless, they rented for a fixed term and were offered to stay longer which they declined. Whilst I don’t think people like her are in the right job sounds like she didn’t do anything wrong. Should private landlords exist, well, if they didn’t and you can’t afford a mortgage and can’t get a council house, where else are you going to live other than the streets? It’s a difficult one. The real issues are holiday homes not houses that are rented out.’
Susan Marmon said: ‘It’s also that young renters or first time renters need guarantors that earn over £35,000 per year AND have at least 2 months rent available in cash! In some places it’s even more! No wonder there’s such a housing crisis.’
London Councils, the group representing boroughs, estimated that over 183,000 Londoners, including 90,000 children, live in temporary hostels arranged by their council.
The group warned that London councils are forecast to spend more than £900 million on homelessness services in 2024/25 – a £330 million overspend.
London has as many a 12,500 hidden homeless people each night, the Greater London Authority estimates.
Hidden homelessness is thought to disproportionately affect women and young people aged 16 to 25.
Young LGBTQ+ people are at particular risk, with almost 136,000 people aged 16-24 homeless in 2022/23. Nearly a quarter of them are LGBTQ+, according to akt.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has vowed to end rough sleeping in the capital by 2030. With £17 million from the government, he plans to refurbish 500 empty homes and launch a homelessness hubs to offer support to new rough sleepers.
Meanwhile, the government has said it is taking urgent action to end homelessness after inheriting ‘a serious housing crisis’ from its predecessor.
It is pumping £1 billion for councils’ homelessness services across the country, with London boroughs given a funding uplift of £78 million.
‘No fault evictions’
While Ali’s spokesperson has insisted that the tenants were not evicted but were told their tenancy would not continue beyond the fixed-term, this is generally called a ‘no fault eviction.’
Shelter's reaction to Rushanara Ali
Mairi MacRae, the director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: ‘Labour made a cast-iron manifesto commitment to ‘immediately’ ban no-fault evictions when they came to power. It beggars belief that after months of dither and delay, the government’s own Homelessness Minister has profited from the underhand tactics the Renters’ Rights Bill is meant to outlaw.
‘This story serves as a damning reminder that the cards are fundamentally stacked against renters. Unscrupulous landlords cannot be allowed to continue the practice of ‘fire and rehire’ evictions, where they slap renters with a Section 21 only to hike up the rent a few months later and relet the property at a higher price.
‘The government has the power to prevent this, and renters cannot wait any longer for meaningful change. It must make good on its manifesto commitment by passing the Renters’ Rights Bill as soon as possible and name an implementation date so renters have certainty on when no-fault evictions will finally be relegated to the history books.’
It means landlords do not need to prove that the tenants have done anything wrong to end a lease at its fixed-term end date by giving two months’ notice to the occupants. Officially, it is known as a Section 21 notice.
The Renters’ Rights Bill, which will become law next year, is set to reform this by abolishing no-fault evictions.
However, landlords’ representatives have warned that the plans to scrap the Section 21 rule has caused many landlords to race to get possession of properties before the abolition, which could reduce the number of homes available to rent.
Damp and mould
While tenants in London might have a roof over their heads, it doesn’t guarantee quality.
Around 1.1 million private rented homes in the UK didn’t meet the decent homes standard in 2022/23, according to the official English Housing Survey.
This includes hazards like damp, mould and excessive cold.
London housing activist Kwajo Tweneboa has been campaigning over standard homes plaguing tenants living in social housing after his own experience of living in ‘slum conditions’ with his dad who had cancer.
Kwajo said he started posting on social media about the mould and damp-riddled conditions because ‘I was angry to find out people were dying in their homes – from asthma, skin conditions and other illnesses related to damp, mould and disrepair,’ he told the Guardian.
He told New Statesman: ‘It’s hard to even describe some of the conditions I’ve seen people living in and subjected to. I’ve been in homes where I’ve had to cover my shoes with Sainsbury’s bags before I went in because they were absolutely flooded with raw sewage… [I’ve seen] cockroaches, mice, ceilings collapsing, leaks… the list could go on. It’s endless.’
Lack of new homes
More and more private landlords have sold up and exited the sector, with analysis by Trust for London showing 45,000 rental homes were lost between 2021 and 2023.
Ben Beadle, the chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: ‘Private renters across London are facing the brunt of the housing crisis. The shortage of homes to rent is a one-way street toward higher rents and even less choice for tenants.
‘London needs more of all types of housing, and that has to include homes for private rent. It’s high time for policies that support investment in the homes renters desperately need.’
There is also a lack of new homes, which the government has pledged to fix with 1.5 million new homes built in England by the next general election.
London alone needs around 88,000 new homes over the next decade to meet demand, according to the City Hall.
The Mayor said on Tuesday that work has started to build over 8,000 new homes, thanks to his land fund, five years ahead of the schedule.
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, said: ‘We’re facing a housing crisis which has stopped our young people from achieving the dream of homeownership, especially in London where there is a real demand to build the affordable homes we need.
‘That’s why we welcome the Mayor of London pushing ahead to build these homes, and we will continue to work hand-in-hand with him to deliver on our stretching target of 1.5 million homes through our Plan for Change.’
The London skyline is changing rapidly with brand-new high-rise developments being built left, right and centre.
However, many of the apartments will be out of reach for many people despite the London Plan mandating that 35% of all new housing developments have to be affordable.
The affordability rule has been criticised for not being genuinely affordable. Shelter said that in 42% of local authorities in England, the ‘so-called affordable rent is in fact unaffordable.’
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