Cost of Living Crisis – Yet more locals to become migrants due to being priced out of the local rental market.

A Bureau of Investigative Journalism analysis of 648 rental properties across eight districts of Kent shows 99% of those advertised over a single month (July 2022) were beyond the means of people in receipt of universal credit or housing benefit. Three years on since we last reported on this subject, things have not improved.

As the cost of living crisis bites and rental prices skyrocket, the Bureau looked at the details of 648 rental property adverts in Kent, comparing them to the regionalised rates of Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which calculates the maximum amount of money a household can claim on benefits towards housing costs. The most common kind of property rented by those on universal credit or housing benefit are two-bedroom properties up for rent at the time. The data snapshot shows two areas of Kent  – Ashford and Maidstone – there was not a single affordable rented property available throughout all of July 2022, for person claiming LHA rates.

It also shows – Canterbury had just 3 properties available, Medway & Swale 2, Dover & Shepway 1 – Thanet 1.

Back in Aug 22, we wrote about Local Housing Allowance; and given the evidence available, it was not fit for purpose, and this is supported by the latest Bureau and Rightmove data.

The rates for the LHA is set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The LHA rates are intended to cover the cheapest 30% of the private rental market across the district. However, the Bureau analysis shows eight districts of Kent, where the local LHA rate can pay for only 1% of properties available to rent. One Percent.

The LHA rates for Dover & Shepway in July 2022 (frozen @ 2020 levels) were:

Shared Accommodation Rate: £65.00 per week

One Bedroom Rate: £100.11 per week

Two Bedrooms Rate: £132.33 per week

Three Bedrooms Rate: £172.60 per week

Four Bedrooms Rate: £207.12 per week

The most common kind of property rented by those on universal credit or housing benefit are two-bedroom properties up for rent at the time. Those in receipt of UC and HB can, according to the LHA rates, be awarded up to £529.32 for a 2 bed property.

The VOA who set the LHA rates, say rents for 2 beds was £720 between Sept 2020 & Sept 2021. This would mean those on UC & HB would need to top up their rent by £190.64. Less Gas, Less Electricity, Less Food, Less…

Just three months earlier in June 2021, Rightmove were saying rents in Folkestone had risen by 27%, reaching £1,144.  Meaning a household in a 2 bed property in receipt of the LHA rate of £529.32, would need to top up there rent by a max of £614.64.  The freeze on LHA rates since 2020, is making a bad situation worse. It should be self evident to those who hold the reins of power, nationally and locally, the housing emergency is at the core of the cost of living crisis. And it’s clear that it is being ignored. Finding a home in any of the eight districts of Kent, if you are on a low income, is now like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

• Average Asking Rent Price Folkestone June 2020 – £902

• Average Asking Rent Price Folkestone June 2021 – £1,144

• Average Asking Rent Price Folkestone June 2022 – £1,135

It’s clear the LHA rates need adjusting but in the current climate, and under this current Government, that’s not likely to happen.

In July 2022, Cllr Nicola Keen (Lab) asked Cllr Tim Prater (Lib Dem) and Cabinet Member for Revenues, Benefits, Anti-Fraud and Corruption, about the Local Housing Allowance paid out by the council.

His response though long winded, can be summarized thus: the Council have no say in the LHA rates, it’s the VOA who set them.

All perfectly true, but will he inform residents what the extra costs will be to the council?

It’s clear the cost of living crisis will reduce budgets, as inflation and higher interest rates bite repeatedly until they peak in 2023. How much of the budget will be set aside for the growth in:

Homelessness applications

Rough Sleepers/Sofa Surfers

Discretionary Housing Payments

Low incomes households unable to afford the rent

Please would Cllr Prater spell out how he will do more with less budget? What are the plans & policies in place to deal with the car crash unfolding before our eyes.

We keep hearing about Cllr Monk’s 1,300 Council homes (page 5), but to date, how many of that thirteen hundred have been built.  The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.

Many low income households are having to make binary choices. Rent or Bills, Heat or Eat, and due to rising rents and low LHA rates, 345 households have had to leave the district as they could no longer afford to live here. Of these 136 were children, uprooted, as the LHA was, and is, not fit for purpose. And these are the ones the Council’s knows about. There are many others moving out, that we don’t know about.

Insightdiy data in June 2022, claims that moving house is ranked as the ‘Most Stressful Life Event’ by 57% of Brits. Imagine the effects on a child. Imagine!

As the district becomes a more expensive place to live, due to cultural -regentrification, many on incomes less than £45,000 will see their financial pips squeezed to infinity and beyond. As we said in May 2016:

The social cleansing of pathologised locals for the sake of a land grab to reap capital begun from the moment the Creative Foundation & other developers took hold of Folkestone.

This housing emergency will continue to create a town of two halves and generate yet more locals to become migrants themselves.

Just last weekend local campaigners who believe in the five simple tenents set out in the – Enough is Enough campaign,

• 1 A real pay rise

• 2 Slash Energy Bills

• 3 End Food Poverty

• 4 Decent Homes For All

• 5 Tax the Rich

made there voices heard on the High Street of Folkestone.

Are these five tenets really so shocking?

Is raising rents for the most vulnerable in our communities, to radical?

It’s quite clear what James Harkin in The Guardian stated, as a DFL himself; Folkestonians have more to fear from internal migrants (DFLs et al), than those arriving, desperate, on inflatable dinghies from overseas. The data by the Shepway Vox Team, the Bureau, the VOA and Rightmove most definitely bears that statement out.

Well-helled cultural re-gentrification is what has driven rents up and locals out.

The VOAs failure to adjust the LHA rates upwards, to reflect real rent increases, means more locals will become migrants, until truly local affordable housing is built, and we told you so in Sept 2016.

If you are struggling these agencies offer advocacy, and food.

Citizens Adivce Bureau

Shelter

Folkestone & Hythe District Council

Rainbow Centre

Action on Homelessness

Community Fridge

Header image: A lettings agent window in Leeds where every property is already let. Credit: Daniel Harvey Gonzalez/In Pictures via Getty Image

The Shepway Vox Team

Dissent is NOT a Crime