Half a million people in England aged 50 and over are faced with paying unaffordable rents and there is a lack of suitable homes due to the housing crisis, according to a new report.
Some 44% of private renters in England aged 50, almost 500,000 people, have been forced to make potentially drastic decisions to cover the cost of their rent, including borrowing money from their own children, taking out loans and cutting down on food and heating.
And 25%, around 52,000 people, who moved house in the last three years have been forced to do so against their will, according to the research from the National Housing Federation which represents housing associations and social landlords.
It adds that many more are stuck in unsuitable housing, leaving people unable to leave their homes independently at a time when a record 1.13 million people aged 50 and over are renting from private landlords. A decade ago 651,000 people aged 50 and over lived in privately rented housing.
The National Housing Federation is calling on the Government to urgently put more money in to building social housing, ensure there are longer and more secure tenancies for people in the private rented sector and ensure there is long term funding for supported and sheltered housing for people who need extra support in their home.
The report explains that as the social housing stock in England has decreased, along with Government funding for it, many over 50s have been forced to turn to renting privately. The private rented sector has dramatically rising rents, the most insecure contracts and the most difficult to adapt homes.
The research shows that in order to pay their rent in the last 12 months, some 130,000 in the private rented sector aged 50 and over have borrowed money from family and friends, 194,000 have cut back on spending on food and hearing, 113,000 have taken out a loan, used an overdraft or credit card while 40,000 have borrowed money from their children.
It also reveals that a third of older private renters are living below the poverty line after they’ve paid their rent and nearly three quarters have a disability or chronic illness which means that they are particularly impacted by the insecure contracts and unsuitable conditions of the private rented sector.
‘We often hear that young people bear the brunt of the housing crisis but this report reveals a shocking number of hidden baby boomers who are struggling just as much, if not more,’ said David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation.
‘There is a huge amount of inequality amongst this age group and unfortunately the wealthier majority have hidden the reality of hundreds of thousands of people who have never been able to afford a house, and are now being failed by the broken housing market,’ he pointed out.
He added that it should be a wake-up call to the Government that more money for building social housing, and especially housing that is fit for retirement, is not only desperately needed but makes financial sense.
