A think tank claims one in six young people live in poor quality housing, often in the private rental sector.
The claim comes from the Resolution Foundation which uses data from a new YouGov survey of 10,122 adults to examine how people are coping with housing payments during the cost of living crisis, the extent of poor quality housing across the UK, and its impact on peoples’ health.
The report notes that renters are most likely to report that they have fallen behind on their housing costs over the past three months – with 15 per cent of social renters and 10 per cent of private renters in this position, compared to fewer than four per cent of mortgagors.
However, with over a million mortgagor households rolling onto new far more expensive fixed-rate deals over the course of the year, the Foundation says that this picture could change as higher housing costs become a concern for an increasing number of homeowners.
A foundation report says one-in-10 people across the UK claim that they live in poor quality housing – defined as living in homes that are not in a good state of repair, where heating, electrics or plumbing are not in good working order, and where damp is present.
The research finds that poor quality housing is concentrated among young people, low-income families and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Around one-in-six people aged 18-34 live in poor quality housing (m– triple the rate of those aged 45 and over.
But only just three per cent of people aged 65 and over report living in poor quality housing.
People from Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds are the most likely to report living in poor quality housing followed by Black families.
High incidences of poor quality housing among these groups help to explain why people living in London (which has a higher share of young and ethnic minority residents than the UK as a whole) are twice as likely to experience poor quality housing (16 per cent) as those as those living in Scotland (eight per cent).
The research uncovers a strong association with poor quality housing and poor health – with the former twice as likely to experience poor health as those not living in poor quality housing (22 per cent vs 11 per cent).
The Foundation says that policy makers need to focus on tackling two related housing crises in Britain – high housing costs and poor housing quality.
That means as well as doing more to build more affordable housing to rent or buy in high demand areas, further action is needed to boost standards in existing stock, “particularly in the private rented sector.”
A foundation spokesperson says: "The UK is blighted by two housing crises. High housing costs are causing many renters in particular to fall behind on housing payments, while poor quality housing is leaving millions of people having to deal with damp and malfunctioning heating, plumbing and electrics.
“High costs and poor housing quality can make life miserable for people, and can damage both their personal finances and their wider health.
“It is critical that policy makers tackle both of these crises – by building new affordable housing, and improving the quality of the housing stock we already have.”
This article is taken from Letting Agent Today