600,000 people in the North East in housing poverty: call for government to take action

600,000 people in the North East – 21% of the population, and 30% of children – are pushed into poverty after paying their housing costs, according to new research from the Northern Housing Consortium.

The situation is made worse by higher-than-average numbers of people in the lowest income bracket living in the private rented sector (PRS). In the North East 24% of people in the lowest income bracket live in the PRS, compared to an average of 18% in England.

Those living in private rented homes pay more per week than people living in other tenures and are more likely to live in a worse quality home. In the North East 16 per cent of PRS homes do not meet decent homes standards.

The recent decision by the government to refreeze Local Housing Allowance will see a further increase in poverty faced by those on lowest incomes in the PRS, as their housing benefits will not keep pace with rising rents.

To make sure everyone in the North has access to a good quality affordable home the report calls on the Government to:
• Announce a new long-term Affordable Homes Programme, with social housing as the
main tenure.
• Unlock up to 320,000 homes in the North through a ten-year £4.2bn programme to
remediate all the North’s brownfield land
• Inject funds and regulate to rapidly improve the quality of all rented homes in the North.

Chief Executive of the Northern Housing Consortium Tracy Harrison said:

“It’s clear that housing costs are pushing people in the North East into poverty and that thousands are struggling to afford their living costs. There is a lack of social housing and as a result, household budgets are squeezed and people are often forced to live in poor quality, insecure housing in the private rented sector.

“The impact on the mental and physical health of those affected cannot be underestimated. This situation is the result of successive governments’ housing policies and now we are calling on the Government to work together with the housing sector to put things right.

“We’ve been pleased to see the new government is prioritising housing, but more needs to be done. It is vital that action is taken to make sure that everyone in the North has access to a good quality, safe home. This means building more social housing, injecting funding, and regulating to improve the quality of all rented homes.

“The recent decision to freeze Local Housing Allowance must also be reversed to avoid pushing more people on low incomes in privately rented homes into poverty and making things worse for those who are already struggling.”

The findings come from Housing Poverty in the North – an old challenge with a new look, a keynote chapter from Northern Housing Monitor. The full report will be released early next year.

The Northern Housing Monitor is the Northern Housing Consortium’s annual state of the region report produced by Arc4 and supported by believe housing, Bernicia Homes and Yorkshire Housing.

Housing Poverty in the North – an old challenge with a new look is available to read at https://www.northern-consortium.org.uk/northern-housing-monitor/