January 2022
Featured in this insight: Central government & non-department public bodies, Financial services, Local & regional government
A quarter of the English population report finding it either 'fairly' or 'very difficult' to pay their housing costs: A major survey by The Centre for Social Justice has found that a quarter of people surveyed in England said they found it either 'fairly' or 'very difficult' to pay their housing costs, rising to 43 per cent of private renters.
The report titled Exposing the Hidden Housing Crisis:Public attitudes to ‘affordable housing’ and housing policy was published in December 2021 and featured a foreword by former Prime Minister, Theresa May. It polled 5,000 adults in England asking questions around housing policy and attitudes towards social housing as well as looking at the impact of Covid-19.
The research found that six in ten people surveyed said they felt the pandemic had worsened the housing crisis in the UK 'significantly', with 55% saying that building social housing should be a priority for the Government.
Looking at how the Government can put an end to the housing crisis, 63% of respondents said that the Government needs to supply low-cost homes, with around a quarter (24%) saying that the Government's definition of 'affordable housing' is not actually affordable to real local people.
Just over half the survey participants polled said that when it comes to the aims of Government housing policy, 'affordability' should be the main objective, while a little over one in ten (11%) said that the ability to own the property eventually should be the primary aim. Nearly six in ten people said that the Government could 'level up' the country by starting to build more low-cost and affordable homes (57%).
