The housing crisis has reached new extremes. Rightmove has found that the average home to rent has 25 potential tenants wanting to view, up from 20 in just months. Rents also rose too: the average advertised monthly cost on new lets in London is now £2,627 a month, 12.1% higher than a year earlier. All of this has made England ‘the most difficult place to find a home in the developed world’, according to The Home Builders Federation.
It’s forcing people to make whiplash-fast decisions on one of the most important areas of their lives: the place they live and rest. The place they let go of the armour and pretence needed to show up in public and at work. Given the cost of living crisis means most young people can’t afford these grandiose rents, they’re relying on spare room culture and being forced to fill bedrooms in the homes of strangers.
These particular conditions placed on individuals by cost of living pressures have created a toxic cocktail of an environment in which the picture of abuse is changing.