My professional salary only just covers my rent. How can this be?

[Rentmakesmepoor]

I am an occupational therapist in the NHS. I am a single parent. After tax, student loan and pension I take home roughly £1900.
I live in the South East of England. My rent is £1750 a month for a 3 bed, SMALL semi detached house with a courtyard garden

How is it that we have got to the point in this country that my salary literally just pays for my rent and nothing else??

I am permanently skint. I am not looking for solutions as I do nd claim everything I can (which is not alot).

But how can this be?

The thing is, though. Sure, the OP could move. But doesn't the south east also need medical care professionals, teachers, police officers, care workers, etc. More help is needed to keep these people in these professions in expensive areas.

Good luck to all the people living in the SE who have a stroke or head injury or become unwell, like after, say, a pandemic.

There won't be anyone to assess or treat you in the ward or figure out what adaptations you need to get home.

Never mind. Maybe you should all think about moving to Stoke too?

Actually, that's not the reason. the reason is that a lot of homes are bought up by investors who keep them unoccupied. This is particularly a problem in London.

Move to the north east to cut your rent by two thirds. My salary wouldn’t cover me in the south east hence me not living there………

x post from @itsalongwaybackfromsorry , sorry.

There is a reason I don't live on a tiny island - I want easy access to infrastructure including A+E. London and the SE in general soon won't have that.

Wouldn’t even afford my current house on my own. Living alone is expensive.

Yes, because it's really that easy 🙄

How are you affording to live? Food, council tax, car, electric/gas/water, phone/broadband surely add up to way more than £250 a month?

I'm in the middle of a physiotherapy degree, and suffice to say I'm not doing it for the money! Wrong isn't it that after three years of intense degree level study, and then ongoing registration fees, debt to repay, CPD and ongoing training and study, the pay for AHPs is as appalling as it is! House prices are astronomical where I live. I'm incredibly lucky that my husband is a high earner, otherwise at the end of these three years, my hard work would be rewarded by me living in a cardboard box. No idea what the solution is, as others have said people in expensive areas need the expertise of healthcare and rehabilitation professionals as well!

Where do you think the supermarket assistants, hospital cleaners, bin collectors, kitchen workers, bar staff, bus drivers all live???

Have you visited London recently? Perhaps - seeing as you're so great with money and property - you could suggest the cheap bit that the OP could afford to live in? In fact, find a town in the South East - commutable to where she works - where the rent is significantly less than she's paying now.

And if not then what is the point of your post either?

The answer might be for the OP to take some self-responsibility and improve her situation by doing some of the suggestions here. Moving to a two bedroom house being one of them.

Where do you think her four kids should sleep? In a cupboard a la Harry Potter? 🙄

I agree. I live in North Kent and DH and I couldn't manage on a single salary, it's only because we are together that we can afford a home. That shouldn't be the case but it is. It's easy for others to say 'oh just move to cheaper part of the country' but when the reality of that means leaving your family and friends and taking your kids out of school where they are settled, going somewhere where you potentially know nobody and to have to do so when it isn't even your own choice, it's a horrible thing to have to contemplate. Also that's assuming you'll find another job quickly - there's a lot of competition for jobs at the moment as I know as I was recently job hunting myself and everything I applied for had over 70 applicants minimum.

What might the southeast look like in the future? A place where only wealthy folks can afford to live but with terrible public services where there aren't enough people to recruit because they've all left? I don't honestly know what the answer is. My 40 year old brother works full time in Bromley in Tech but can only afford to live in a bedsit. He shares a kitchen and bathroom with strangers and has no living room area, he spends his life either holed up in his bedroom or in the local park. He can't afford his own home, it's unattainable. And it's wrong.

Sorry £150 not £250. Impossible surely??

With their parents.

I'm actually finding this really upsetting now. My partner left me when I was 29 years old and then died a year later when he was 31. He didn't have any pension and no life insurance because he couldn't get it due to the health condition that killed him. That's why I called myself a single parent as I was, before he died. I didn't see the need to add that I had 4 children in my original post as it really wasn't relevant to the point I was making.
I also stated I was not asking for advice, more moaning about the cost of living.
This didn't need to be a witch hunt. I once asked for advice on moving to a cheaper area and the same posters destroyed me for even considering moving my children away from their schools, grandparents and where we have lived since I was born.

So many posters are uncessarily unkind and goady.

I'm glad that some of you don't have time live my life, seriously, but some empathy would be nice.

Definitely leaving this bow. Thanks for the kind people that got my point

Honestly, where I live (north London) a three bed house with garden is outside the reach of most people. You are in a similar position to a friend of mine who is paying 2.3k for a 2 bedroom flat with a shared garden. It's awful, I agree

Yes, you should be able to live in the area you work. You shouldn't have to, but it should be possible.

Some posts here are ridiculous.

Going back 40 years, very few teachers or nurses could afford to buy in the SE on a single salary.

It's not new. People will still stay in the south because they want to.

The north is crying out for doctors and they can't get anyone to move there. yet housing is so cheap, the quality of life is far greater (and for teachers and nurses too.)

Many professionals rent and manage to save a deposit, or go for shared ownership or buy with a partner or a friend.

@Rentmakesmepoor If you had written your first post in a different way, you'd have had different responses.

Maybe you should have said you your partner died. That you had 4 children, etc.

I’m so sorry you’re finding yourself in this situation. My friend’s husband died a couple of years ago leaving her at 38 with 3 children. It’s heartbreaking!
Unfortunately there’s not a lot you can do about the situation you’re in. As long as you are getting help to afford your home and you have family support nearby I’d just do my best to get through the next few years. Eventually your children will grow up and become financially independent. It’s not forever. In time you may find another partner (if you’re ready and if that’s what you want ).
Life is really tough for a lot of people and you won’t be the only one.

What, you'd have been nicer if you'd realised she was a widow doing her best instead of furiously backpedalling with a non-apology now?

It's an awful situation and absolutely appalling that you aren't entitled to more help. I hope things get better for you.

@horseyhorsey17 What? I was the first poster to correct subsequent posters who didn't know she was single (not formally a widow as unmarried.)

Maybe you need to read the full thread and appreciate that the OP only mentioned the death of her partner towards the end of her posts.

And don't start blaming me for something I didn't do!