The poorest tenants within the private rented sector (PRS) are spending 63% of their income on rent, a shocking new report from the Government has revealed.

The Official for National Statistics (ONS) latest update to its English Housing Survey reveals that while tenants paid 34% of their income on average – up two percent on four years ago – the poorest tenants paid 63% of their income, up from 59% in 2020.

Also, private renters were the most likely to report difficulty affording their housing costs at 32%, followed by social renters at 28%, and mortgagors and shared owners were the least likely to report difficulty affording their housing costs (14%).

The report may raise eyebrows in some quarters because for the first time the ONS refers to the problems of affordability within the PRS as a ‘housing crisis’.

It is clearly aware the term may be controversial, saying: “This report brings together evidence from the English Housing Survey (EHS) on experiences of the ‘housing crisis’.

“We use the term ‘housing crisis’ in this report, though we are certainly not the first to do so.

“And we use it to lend our evidence to the conversation and to refer to the collection of social and market conditions that result from a shortage of affordable housing,”

The ONS says its report also looks at the extent to which rises in the cost of living are worsening ‘housing crisis’ conditions and disproportionately affecting certain households and groups of tenants more than others.

Its report also reveals a ‘growing disparity across households in England’ including that tenants within the PRS are struggling particularly hard in London and the South where rents are highest.

'Marched out'

Alicia Walker (pictured), Assistant Director of Advocacy & Activism at Shelter, says: “Thousands of renters are being marched out of their homes because of an unjust policy that should already be history. No fault evictions must be scrapped by summer, but landlords can’t be allowed to continue using colossal rent hikes as a loophole to unfairly force tenants out.  

“Rents and living costs are spiralling across England and tenants on the lowest pay are keeping hold of their homes by the skin of their teeth. Every day our frontline teams hear from families who’ve been hit with rent increases they just cannot afford - forced to pay up or ship out, with little standing between them and the nightmare of homelessness.  

“With the Renters’ Rights Bill making its way through the House of Lords, this is the last chance to guarantee renters real security. If the government wants the Bill to be truly transformative, it must cap rent increases in line with inflation or wage growth to make renting genuinely safe, secure, and more affordable.” 

‍