One in three ‘rent burdened Brits’ are borrowing money in order to pay their rent, new research reveals.
The housing charity Shelter have called on the Government to ‘step in’ and help hard-pressed private renters meet their housing costs.
The charity’s research, compiled with YouGov, has revealed over half a million low-earning renters borrowed from credit cards, overdrafts or friends and family in the last year alone.
It found 70% of those renting in the private sector are either struggling with or falling behind on rent, and 800,000 renters are not able to save £10 a month.
‘It just isn’t right that so many hard-working private renters are having to take on desperate or dangerous debts just to keep a roof over their heads,’ said Anne Baxendale, director of communications, policy and campaigns at Shelter.
‘No family should have to choose between relying on their credit card to keep up with the rent or moving miles away from their jobs and schools to find a home they can actually afford.’
Shelter called on the next Government to build half a million new living rent homes to ‘genuinely help ordinary families to get by and give them a firmer foundation for the future.’
