WOMEN LOCKED OUT OF THE HOUSING MARKET • New data reveals housing is unaffordable for women in every English region

[thaira]

Hi everyone,
I thought the below might be of interest. It is a new report which has been released by women's Budget Group.

Rising house prices and the gender pay gap means that there is no English region where a single woman on median earnings can afford to rent or buy an averagely priced house according to a new report from the Women’s Budget Group and Women’s Housing Forum. This report is delivered as part of a project with the Coventry Women’s Partnership.

The report, A home of her own, women and housing, shows that:
For renters
• There is no region in England where the average home to rent is affordable for a woman on median earnings.
• The average home to rent is affordable for men on median earnings in every region except London and the South East.
• Across England as a whole average rents take 43% of women’s median earnings and 28% of men’s.

When buying a house
• Women need over 12 times their annual salaries to be able to buy a home in England, while men need just over eight times.
• The worst regions in housing buying affordability for women (and men) are London and the South East, where women need nearly 18 times and 16 times their annual earnings to afford a house (respectively).
• The regions with the widest gap in affordability between women and men are the South East and the East. This is where the gender pay gap (as measured by gross annual earnings of full time and part time workers) is the largest.

Mortgage eligibility:
The report also looks at the median earnings by region and how far median earnings for men and women in each region fall short of income required for a mortgage. Our findings show that:
• When it comes to buying a house with a typical mortgage, women’s incomes fall over 50% short in most regions, excluding in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
• Men’s incomes only fall over 50% short in London and the South East.

Social Security and Housing
• Reforms since 2012 have broken the link between rent and housing benefit levels, with 90% of private renters on housing benefit in 2015 facing shortfalls.

• Women make up 60% of housing benefit claimants and so are being disproportionately affected by these cuts.
• Universal credit is also having a negative impact. the five-week wait period on application is leaving many people in rent arrears: tenants on universal credit are six times more likely to fall behind on rent than other benefit claimants.

• The benefit cap has a detrimental impact on large families’ incomes, and specifically on housing, as housing benefit is the first element to be cup once the threshold is reached.
• These benefit cuts and changes, accompanied by a severe shortage of social and affordable housing, are leading to increasing numbers of evictions and homelessness.

Women and Homelessness
• The vast majority of people recorded sleeping rough are men (84%). However, women rough sleepers face specific challenges and their experience is very often linked to abuse, trauma and violence. They are less likely to access mainstream services and be visible on the streets.
• The majority of statutory homeless people are women (67%).
• Single mothers are two-thirds (66%) of all statutory homeless families with children (they are just one quarter of all families with dependent children).

The report author, Dr Sara Reis, said:
“Housing is one of the most urgent public policy issues in the UK with large number of people pushed into poverty by housing costs or unable to afford to rent or buy. But our report shows that this crisis of housing affordability is far worse for women than for men. Although women and men tend to buy or rent their homes as a couple, women are likely to find themselves unable to afford a home of their own if that relationship breaks down. Not surprisingly the majority of statutory homeless people are women. and single mothers are two thirds of women are particularly vulnerable if that relationship breaks down. We are calling on central government to invest in social housing to spread the benefits of the housing safety net more widely and save billions of pounds in housing benefit.”

The full report and the short summary can be accessed here: wbg.org.uk/analysis/reports/a-home-of-her-own-housing-and-women/

For more information about this report or any other queries contact [email protected]

I think there was a thread on this about a month ago?

It bears repeating.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3654459-Housing-is-unaffordable-for-women-in-every-English-region-Womens-Budget-Group?msgid=89011067

''We are calling on central government to invest in social housing to spread the benefits of the housing safety net more widely and save billions of pounds in housing benefit.”
This is a really important point, when people who claim HB live in council housing the money is moved from one council department to another. The council owns the house, the land it stands on, and they are assets.
When we live in private housing the money goes into the pocket of a landlord, and we become more of a drain on the taxpayer.

Just bumping this because it deserves more attention as a thread than it's got, and because it's pertinent to another thread (the homeless living in shipping containers thread).

Well that's a load of bollocks. You can afford a house round here on min wage, whether man or woman. Where do they get this shit from?

If you have alternative facts share them instead of vague terms such as 'round here'. There are very few places where you can afford a house on minimum wage.

This is the report;
wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/WBG19-Housing-Report-full-digital.pdf

National minimum wage is 8.21 an hour. So on a 40 hour week, that's 1421 per month before tax. Take home probably closer to 1300 per month (first 10000 a year approx is tax free).

Round where I live, you'd be looking at 700 quid a month for a 2 bed. So more than half your wage would go on housing.

For a single parent, with one income coming in, that becomes impossible. Assuming (as a single mother) you could work a 40 hour week. And not allowing any of your income for childcare. You'd have less than 700 quid to cover bills, council tax and food - before you even tried to buy clothes and food for your kids.

So someone on this thread is certainly talking bollocks... and I think it's pretty obvious who it is.

Most places that aren't jumped up and in Yorkshire, Most of the North West, North East.
I should imagine it was hard in London, but there are many more places in England
Just look at the places the snobs wouldn't want to live and you'll find your houses.
My dc mid twenties have several houses and earn a nice living from them
HTH and isn't too vague for you.

Everyone; put your fingers in your ears and scream 'Fuck you, I'm alright and thats what counts'.

It’s not a question of snobbery. It’s where your family are, your friends, your schools, your support network. Not to mention jobs, i’m guessing where you are the job market isn’t so plentiful as London/SE, or maybe seasonal.
Believe me, if it was as easy as all that too up sticks and relocate, then you’d have loads of people piling into your area to take advantage of the cheap rents. But I don’t think you’d really like a sudden influx of strangers, judging by how people are voting these days.

Personally I’m glad this has been highlighted, although it will probably be ignored. Apparently women make up the 90% of people affected by austerity measures. But that has been largely ignored too.

I'm with you in general just not on you highlighting it as a woman's issue. So 84% Of rough sleepers are men but let's park that one? This isn't a woman's issue, single people in general find it difficult, families find it difficult because you're essentially taxed on each child you have, low income couples find it difficult. What you've stated above is a huge issue but it effects everyone

It doesn't affect everyone equally or in the same way, and its essential to discuss that, otherwise you end up with this kind of situation;

The impact of austerity on women in the uk

Austerity has a disproportionate impact on women’s lives. When it comes to cuts in public spending, women are affected by a ‘triple whammy’:

• Women use more public services and are the majority of welfare benefit recipients. This is because women are more likely to be poor, a consequence of a looser attachment to the labour market due to their traditional role as unpaid carers, they have a longer life expectancy, and their responsibility to manage care for children, elderly people and sick and disabled people.3
• Women make up the majority of the public-sector labour force. Cuts to public spending and to public sector jobs have thus sent many women into unemployment or low-paid and temporary job positions, increasing their financial insecurity.
• Women are more likely to have to make up for lost services by increasing the amount of unpaid care work they perform in looking after elderly, disabled or young family members.

www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Development/IEDebt/WomenAusterity/WBG.pdf

I'm not living in a "jumped up" place (whatever that means), I'm living in a region with one of the lowest median incomes in the UK. Rents in my town are still round the 700 mark for a two bed.