Shelter's Breaking Point report shows full extent of UK's housing crisis » Housing » 24dash.com

Millions of parents are being forced to spend less on food and are depriving their children of treats due to spiralling housing costs, a new report by housing charity Shelter shows.

The report, Breaking Point, also highlights the desperate sacrifices families are making to keep a roof over their heads, including selling treasured family possessions and reducing the amount spent on children’s clothes.

The report, based on a YouGov survey of 6,799 adults in Great Britain, set out to discover what affect Britain’s chronic shortage of affordable homes to buy and rent is having on ordinary people and families.

And the findings are shocking:

• 6.3 million (one in four) households are spending less on food
• More than 9 million households have reduced the amount they spend on ‘treats’ or luxuries for the family
• Three million (one in nine) have sold possessions
• 2.2 million have reduced the amount they spend on clothing for their children
• 2.8 million (11%) have been forced to borrow money to meet their housing costs in the last 12 months
• Two million say meeting housing costs is a constant struggle, with 400,000 falling behind with rent or mortgage payments
• Six million (almost one in four) households are suffering stress or depression because of their housing costs
• 4.1 million households (16%) have used a credit card to help meet their housing costs in the last 12 months
• One million households (4.1%) pay more than two-thirds of their income on housing. Low-income households are far more likely to be paying a high proportion of their income on housing
• The report, launched at the same time as the charity’s new ‘Now Is The Time’ campaign, says the Government must take immediate action to build more homes, protect people at risk of losing their property and end the widening housing divide between the housing haves and have nots.

Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson said: “Our new report and campaign show just how difficult it is for ordinary families to cope with spiralling housing costs, and how desperately unaffordable housing has become.

“People are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure they pay their rent or mortgage, but the affects of stress or depression, having to sell possessions or deprive the kids of treats can be devastating to family life.”

The report sets out a detailed 12 point plan to tackle the affordability crisis including calls on the Government to carry out its promise to build three million new homes by 2020, and meet its target to build 45,000 social rented homes every year by 2011.

The plan also calls for mortgage lenders to use repossession only as a last resort, and provide more active and earlier help and support to homeowners; and for the Government to review property taxation to make the system fairer, including council tax, stamp duty, inheritance tax and capital gains tax.

Mr Sampson added: “The lack of affordable housing hasn’t just been felt by aspiring homeowners. People renting in the private and social sectors have also experienced the ill-effects of high housing costs.

“With repossessions soaring, private sector rents rising, millions stuck on the council housing waiting list and thousands more in temporary accommodation, the Government must build more homes, protect people at risk and end the housing divide. Now is the time to right housing wrongs.”

Shelter is calling on the public to support its Now is the Time campaign by visiting www.shelter.org.uk