Millions of London parents are seeing their children forced to move out of the capital by the housing shortage, a leading charity warned today.
Most Londoners now fear their offspring will never be able to afford decent homes nearby because of ballooning prices and rents.
Housing charity Shelter warned that an entire generation of young Londoners is in danger of being “priced out of their home city” unless the next Mayor creates many more affordable homes.
The findings come as all the main candidates in May’s election for Mayor of London insist housing is their top priority - but are divided on how to tackle it.
Official figures show the cost of a roof over Londoners’ heads has surged to above the half-million pound mark on average. Moreover, commuter towns within easy reach have also spiralled in cost, including Reading where prices jumped 17 per cent last year.
Christina Manning, a charity worker from Clapham Junction, was forced to move with her husband out of their one-bed flat and now commute from a shared house in Surrey.
She said: “We have both said on various occasions that it is unlikely we will ever own our own home. Trying to save for a deposit whilst renting is almost impossible. It’s difficult to think of starting a family under these conditions.”
A YouGov poll of Londoners for Shelter found that 86 per cent of parents were concerned that their children would be priced out of London. Nine in ten thought it was harder for children growing up in London today than it was for them.
Campbell Robb, the Shelter chief executive, called on the mayoral candidates to spell out plans for more homes priced within reach of ordinary people. “Parents are crying out for the new Mayor to give their children the chance of a home they can call their own,” he said.
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“The capital’s drastic shortage of affordable homes is leaving millions of Londoners stuck in their childhood bedrooms, or in expensive and unstable private renting, with little hope of saving for a home to put down roots in.”
He urged: “It doesn’t have to be this way - mayoral candidates must answer their calls, and commit to plans that can build homes Londoners on typical wages can actually afford to rent or buy.”
