So 10 single workers may each pay £60 a week to share what was a three-bedroom house, netting the landlords £600 a week. That means a gross rental income from the house of perhaps £30,000 a year.
If the Tories are not braying 'Huzzah!' about that, I want to know why. Market forces at work and all that.
Plus, it's very likely that the people who own the houses netting £30k pa are voting Tory.
That is much more than local families can afford for those houses - and the housing supply has simply not kept up with demand...
Gee I wonder why that is. Why is it that provision of housing has not kept up with demand?
Could it be that it's more profitable to build higher end properties in other parts of the country, where jobs are plentiful and people earn enough to make high house prices acceptable?
Could it be that the lethal combination of market forces and abandonment of the idea of society has resulted in the poor being screwed?
Local rents in Boston are actually much higher than in Nottingham despite wages being lower. This is a major problem within the town and has become a major cause of frustration. People living next door to these multiple-occupied homes are also not happy...
Where are the housing officers who should be policing overcrowded properties, ensuring fire safety, adequate running water and sewer capacity, room occupancy, etc?
It's in nobody's interests to have inadequate or even dangerous housing conditions. If local authorities can't be responsive to the needs of the communities they serve, why is that?
The locals are not happy about the effect of market forces. But it appears they are powerless to change anything in a way that is meaningful and lasting.
Sure, they can get rid of the immigrants next door by voting for Brexit. But the LA remains unresponsive, and the property owners' potential to fill up properties with people desperate for a bed remains unchallenged and unchanged. The system set up to exploit the poor migrants, maximise the profits of the owner class, and squeeze the poor remains intact.
The financial starvation of local authorities by central government has consequences. Nobody is providing adequate services, and nobody is doing anything to alleviate the housing crunch.
...sudden rise in demand for children's services - from keeping maternity wards open through to funding more school places
...creating jobs for nurses, midwives, teachers, janitors, food service personnel, administrative staff, printers of textbooks, makers of school uniforms, Clarks shoes, and schoolbags?
Do you want market forces or don't you?
Why is funding a problem?
Why is the need for all those services a surprise? Was nobody keeping track of who was in the country?