How do people on low incomes manage to live in London?

[YourPithyLemonUser]

How do ppl on low income survive in London?

I know some ppl with low incomes i.e. cleaners, creative types, freelance artists etc.

Yet I see them eat out, go on holiday, have a good time etc.

How is this possible? Only with financial support from their parents does this happen

Even SH is becoming more expensive in London. All those developments of apartments where a portion is SH, those flats tend to be £300+ a week now. It may still be cheaper than private rent but it’s not what I’d call cheap. Someone on MW would struggle, once you add in CT, living costs etc.

I’m in a SH property in zone 2. But my rent is a bit less than that as I’ve been a tenant for so long, just under £900 a month and I’m in a house not a flat. I pay it all myself, no UC. My adult DC are living at home right now. This isn’t uncommon. Many of my friends have adult DC at home, whether in SH or their own property.

My day to day costs are quite low. No car, wfh so no commuting. Groceries and utilities cost the same anywhere. I could get slightly cheaper SH out of London but both DC work here and I like living here.

I originally lived out of London and exchanged to a property here when I got my current job. The rent for here was cheaper than rent + commuting costs for living out of London. So it was a no brainer really.

Add to that those with partners who do earn decently in something corporate or financial services (or whose dad did) and you've got your answer.

Yep, bank of mum and dad, or even gran and grandad, is propping up some lower earning young people to buy a property as well.

Yep this is very common.

It does seem to me something is broken but no idea how it can be fixed.

For anyone who doesn’t own property with no/low mortgage, doesn’t get housing benefit and doesn’t have the BoMaD it is a constant uphill battle to get a decent financial footing. Per this thread, perhaps that is a smaller subset of Londoners than I had assumed.

@PancakeCloudI had help to buy as did 95% of my friends. Some people have insane levels of help; I sold my flat to parents buying it outright for their dc, I have school mum friends who had help to get on the ladder, move up it, renovations, we are taking hundreds of thousands of pounds. It’s a whole other world that I had no idea that existed. Same for school fees, lots are paid by gps

We lived in z3 north London until 2 years ago when we moved to Somerset. We both worked for the NHS in nursing so not high incomes.

-firstly we’re now in our 60s, so bought when housing, though we considered it expensive, on hindsight within our budget (mid 90s). It was a gff in an ‘OK’ area which benefited from some gentrification. We remained there until we relocated.

-no kids! We were not averse to them but they didn’t happen and for various reasons we chose not to go for IVF etc. this meant we didn’t need to consider childcare, bigger property plus all the high future costs like university etc.

I realise that (aside from the kids not happening) we were fortunate in being ftb when housing was affordable.

One of the flats in my block in zone two had 13 bunkbeds in it (and 1 billion cockroaches). 15 delivery drivers lived there.

One bedroom flat, 1500 a month so £100 each.

That’s how London is affordable for many poor people now.

Given that you know these people, why don't you just ask them?

isnt it rude to ask ppl how they got their money to their faces

state assistance usually

Speak for yourself!!

That's not what you want to ask though. You want to ask how they balance living in London with earning what you assume to be lower salaries. Not the same thing at all as asking where they get their money from.

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/freelance-creative-salary-SRCH_KO0,18.htm

£33k/yrAverage base pay

surely this is illegal?

People are living differently then previous generations.

HMO's are increasing at an incredible rate where I am in London.

3 of my adult dc (20s) are living at home. 2 graduates. No intention of moving out. They want to live in London.
This is very common amongst their friends.

I have 2 older dcs (in their 30s) that moved out when they went to uni. Initially they rented but they both ended up buying houses outside of London. Ones an Accountant and the other is an engineer.
This is totally unachievable for my younger dc.

The only people I know with arty/hobby type low paid jobs have family money or bought a house/flat a long time ago. The other people on low incomes who we know are carers, hospitality workers. They get UC top up to help pay rent - usually in social housing, rent a room in a shared house or live with their parents.

As a previous poster says, other than housing, you can have a good life in London as food can be cheap, eating out can be cheap, travel on buses is relatively cheap and plentiful. There are lots of varied and ever changing cultural experiences which are free or very low cost. In the last few weeks I’ve attended a great festival for free where I listened to music and watched a highly regarded dance performance, seen outdoor cinema for free, been into several free art galleries and museums. I’ve eaten great food from ethnic street market stalls for £5-£7 and markets in places like Lewisham/Brixton have fresh fruit and veg at low prices for making dinner. I can see why low income workers feel London is worth it.

Plus all the freebies that come with being on UC. The people who struggle are those on 50K who get no help and are faced with 2K month rent for a 1-bed flat. They should be getting the social housing, particularly if they are teachers, doctors, nurses etc on a temporary basis whilst they save a deposit to buy.

In my experience, you have to be poor enough to qualify for social housing and benefits.
For young people just starting out in "city" jobs, they either live outside the city and commute in, or they house-share until they "meet someone", whether that be romantic partner or very close friend, when they can then afford to rent somewhere with the two salaries.
The young couples I know, who met in London and lived there for a few years... As soon as the children started arriving, moved out to the home counties. Hertfordshire is very popular for that. I know a lot of people there, who started out in London.

Middle earners taxes go to subsidise low/no earners rent, which in turn pushes up the taxpayers rent either by putting pressure on the private rental market or by reducing the amount of social housing that is available. Thus, pushing up private rents. DOH

Of course, but the LA need to a) know and b) take (effective).action, and LAs have lost staff since 2008 so b) is hardly likely.

I rent out a place in outer London, absolutely by the book, but there has not been one single check on anything in 6 years - the LA must know it's rented out because of council tax (and they wrote to me to let me know about their scheme to guarantee deposits for people on benefits).

So God knows what unscrupulous people are getting away with.

I’m a low earner and have lived in different areas across zone 2 and 3.

My main answer is flatshares, it’s hard but not impossible to find a good deal. I only lived in 2 bed shares as I didn’t feel comfortable sharing with lots of people. My friend who lives in 4 bed house share in zone 3 pays £680

Not all landlords are greedy, some of my landlords knew me/my flatmate and were sympathetic about living costs. In past 5 years I have paid £750pcm to live in Stratford, £800pcm to live in Walthamstow, and £700pcm to live in Mile End.

I don’t drive, I tend to use London buses a lot which are cheap unless I’m running late I’ll take tube. Rarely take Ubers after a night out because we have the night tube and I also feel safe walking at night in London. I know some frugal friends who cycle a lot too. Overall I pay less on transport than avg person. On WFH days I avoid paying for transport altogether as have so many amenities within walking distance.

I’ve become very frugal when it comes to clothes and cosmetics, instead prioritising experiences. I actually find beauty treatments to be cheaper in zone 2 than going to a local salon in my parents hometown up north, maybe because London salons have so much competition. I have so many great cafe options too and it’s cheaper to get good coffee from an award winning cafe in trendy part of zone 2 than grabbing average coffee in my parents town where only have two independent coffee shops. Of course many places in London are much more expensive but as a local I find I have more choice to enjoy things at different budget points.

I work a corporate job in the City yet have some creative friends who significantly outearn me (graphic design, photographer, advertising)

I find socialising is cheaper here compared to when I lived up north with so many free or cheaper activities. I feel lucky to go to so many more gigs, festivals, and shows now.

There is a tiktok creator based in London who earns less than 30k (can’t remember exact salary) and does ‘what I spend in a day’ videos, she’s not a hermit either. To be fair, I find it very impressive how she manages as think her rent was more than mine too

If you have no dependants, living on 35k is manageable in London

There’s a lot of council housing in London. They probably have cheap rents.

I have known of it happen in Bristol too. 12 people living in one flat. Mattresses on the floor. All in low paid jobs, but they were sending a huge bulk of their wages back to families at home (Poland etc).

Yeah, I remember feeling too old to house share when I was 25. I cant imagine doing it in your 30s or 40s.

I know of 2 men in their 70s who are house sharing. It is really sad.