Tenants are being affected worse than homeowners by the cost of living crisis, according to a new report.
Nineteen percent of private renters in Wales were worried about being evicted in the three months leading up to January 2023, a report published by the Bevan Foundation reveals.
This compares to the 13 percent of people who own their homes, who fear being able to meet their mortgage payments.
It isn’t just eviction that affects tenants more though. Thirty six percent of social housing tenants say they often don’t have enough money to afford basic living essentials, whereas only four percent of homeowners say the same thing.
Nearly half (46 percent) of social housing tenants say they have had to cut back on food or skip meals in the past three months, but only 13 percent of homeowners have had to do the same.
One tenant in Cardiff, who wants to remain anonymous to maintain her relationship with their landlord, said that her rent is increasing from £300 a month to £400 a month. Two of her housemates now have to find somewhere else to live because they can’t afford the increase.
“It’s not right that all of us are struggling,” she says.
She is also worried that this increase will prevent her from saving enough to buy a house but she feels trapped: “My work and life is in the Cardiff area, I have got to rent, I don’t have any other choice.”
Cardiff Civic Society volunteer Tamsin Stirling, who is from Splott, says she sees rents rising in her area, with one-bedroom flats costing more than £1,000 per month.
Tamsin says that the Council has a housing development program, which is a “good thing, but there is 8,000 people on the waiting list and I think [the council] is going to build 1,500 new homes over the next few years, which is not sufficient. “
She also wants the council to “work with housing associations to get more social housing built.”
She also thinks that spending in the city is being focused on visitors rather than residents, who are struggling with their wages not rising in line with inflation.
Cardiff Council says it is building 1,500 new homes in the next 10 years, including 800 council homes. The council now is seeking another partnership scheme, so that it can build an additional 1,700 homes.