House prices are officially a complete joke(01 of20)
Open Image ModalA staggering 80% of properties in England are unaffordable to a family of renters on average wages looking to buy their first home, Shelter has found. There are just 43 homes in London that the charity classes as genuinely affordable - and that includes house boats and one mobile home. (credit:fazon1 via Getty Images)
Rents are rocketing(02 of20)
Open Image ModalRental costs in England and Wales have risen 15.2 per cent since the last general election, faster than the rate of inflation, an index from Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents shows. But - in another blow to those hoping to buy - house prices have risen even faster, at 28% to an average price of £268,000, according to the Office for National Statistics. (credit:Niki van Velden via Getty Images)
And it's not just renters who are suffering...(03 of20)
Open Image ModalIt's their friends and family too. An exclusive poll for HuffPost UK found that 19% of people need help from their friends or relatives to pay their rent. (credit:MARIA TOUTOUDAKI via Getty Images)
Renting for life will cost you dearly(04 of20)
Open Image ModalRenting ‘lifers’ will be over half a million pounds worse off than those who buy a home in their twenties, according to Shelter. This reveals the huge financial cost of being priced out of homeownership for a lifetime - a likely fate for many people if the situation we're in continues. In London, the amount you could lose is an even more eye-watering £1.36 million. (credit:Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)
Rent is forcing people cut back on essentials(05 of20)
Open Image ModalRent is so expensive that two in five private renters (39%) say they have had to cut back on heating because of the cost of rent, while a third (33%) say that they have had to cut back on food, the Generation Rent campaign claimed in 2014. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
And it's not just about the money(06 of20)
Open Image ModalBeing priced out of homeownership damages more than just your wallet: your wellbeing can suffer too. Shelter research found damaging social and emotional impacts of being unable to buy a home, including feeling unstable or alienated in your career or relationships, or jealous of friends who had help from family to buy a home.
Some people are even put off parenthood because of uncertain housing situations - or risk their children’s wellbeing by not having enough space in a rented home. (credit:Tara Moore via Getty Images)
Bad landlords are far too common(07 of20)
Open Image ModalThe National Landlords Association finds that around 12 or 13 per cent of tenants it surveys say they think they have dealt with a rogue landlord - someone acting in a criminal manner. While it's not a majority, that's over a million, and "far too many" - as the head of the association Richard Lambert admitted to HuffPost UK. (credit:Chris Mellor via Getty Images)
Government policies may be making things worse(08 of20)
Open Image ModalAccording to housing campaigners, many policies like the Help To Buy ISA, and the Tories's plan to extend the Right To Buy scheme to housing association properties, will simply make things worse, by pushing up house prices while not adding desperately needed homes to the market. (credit:Jupiterimages via Getty Images)
Renters are valuable voters - yet they're being forgotten(09 of20)
Open Image ModalGeneration Rent conducted a poll of 1,004 private renters and found that 35% say that they tend to change which party they vote for between different General Elections, making them potential swing voters.
With 11 million people in the private rented sector in England, and most of them saying that renting is the thing they spend the most money on, you'd think that politicians would listen up - but historically little has been done to address private renters' concerns, despite a flurry of promises in the last days of the election campaign. (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Only 6 in 10 renters can actually vote(10 of20)
Open Image ModalPrivate renters are far less able to make their voices heard by politicians because only 63% are registered to vote, compared to 94% of people who own their home, according to the electoral commission. And, as the electoral register is used for credit checks, not being on it could also stop a renter getting a mortgage, if they are ever able to afford buying. (credit:Floresco Images via Getty Images)
The sector is growing too big, too fast(11 of20)
Open Image ModalPrivate renting is booming – but not in a good way, as there isn't enough good housing for rent. When Shelter started a campaign last year to make 'revenge evictions' illegal (which it succeeded on) the movement was called '9 Million Renters' after the number of renters in the UK. Now, it would have to be renamed '11 million Renters.' (credit:inxti via Getty Images)
They are renting their way into poverty(12 of20)
Open Image ModalThe Joseph Rowntree Foundation has predicted that, without action, rents will rise twice as fast as inflation, meaning that by 2040 half of all private renters (currently 6 million people ) would be living in poverty because of the cost of rent.
Private renters’ rights campaigner Heather Kennedy claims she volunteered at a soup kitchen, and found that "about a third of the people there were in private rented [accommodation]."
"It really struck me that the imbalance of power is much worse the lower down you get in the market," she told The Guardian, "so if you are living really at the bottom end of the market, that’s where you’ve got the most exploitative conditions, you’ve got landlords that really have absolutely no respect for the wellbeing of their tenants and it’s all happening completely under the radar.” (credit:BEN STANSALL via Getty Images)
Renting is the biggest route to homelessness(13 of20)
Open Image ModalBeing evicted from private renting is now the number one path to homelessness, according to Shelter - mainly because landlords won't renew contracts, or people can't afford their rent. (credit:Christopher Furlong via Getty Images)
Most renters simply don't want to be there(14 of20)
Open Image ModalMost renters don’t want to be renting. Two-thirds of private renters (67%) would rather own their home, while another 10% would prefer to be in social housing, the Generation Rent campaign says. (credit:Gary Burchell via Getty Images)
Things shouldn't be like this(15 of20)
Open Image ModalThe private rented sector is housing more and more people that it wasn't designed to cater for - individuals and families who might ordinarily have been in social housing or supported housing. They can be vulnerable and landlords can discriminate against people who are claiming housing benefit. (credit:Cultura/Nick Daly via Getty Images)
Even if it doesn't affect you, it will affect someone you know(16 of20)
Open Image ModalEven if you own a swanky pad, the crisis may be touching you - most of us (57%) say they, or someone they know, is struggling to buy or rent a suitable home, according to the Generation Rent. (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
We could be so happy(17 of20)
Open Image ModalThe sad thing is that people could be perfectly happy with renting. A poll for flatshare site Weroom found that 55% of people (and 66% of over 35s) would rather rent than buy a home - if renting offered secure tenancies and affordable rents.
That's a big if, but it makes clear that owning is not something people crave simply for investment purposes, it's also to escape the instability of renting. (credit:Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Private renting is used as a plaster for council housing(18 of20)
Open Image ModalCouncils are offering landlords cash payments of up to £4,000 to house homeless families, according to The Guardian, as a shortage of council housing forces them to look to the private sector.
The “golden hellos” were seized on by critics of the Tory plans to extend Right To Buy - meaning that there would even fewer council homes for rent when local authorities are clearly already having difficulties housing people. (credit:LatitudeStock - David Williams via Getty Images)
Activism has a slow payoff(19 of20)
Open Image ModalWe had the biggest ever housing rally in Britain, from the Homes For Britain campaign in March - and while politicians may have noticed the message (build more homes) they didn't really show it.
The next major political announcement was the Conservatives's plan to extend Right To Buy to housing associations, which will increase competition for houses rather than providing more, campaigners say, and united the housing sector in condemnation.
Uncertainty in old age(20 of20)
Open Image ModalWith the collapse of pensions, people who own a home may rely on their investment to support them when the retire. But what of the millions priced out of buying?
"We haven't even begun to get into the thought process around if more and more people stay renting privately until they are in their 40s and 50s, what impact that has on their pensions," says Richard Lambert, the CEO of the National Landlords Association. (credit:Peter Chadwick LRPS via Getty Images)