Current Issues Impacting On The Prs - 1503 Words

4.1 CURRENT ISSUES IMPACTING ON THE PRS’ ABILITY TO PROVIDE HOUSING 4.1A RENT LEVELS The average rent on a home is costlier than paying a mortgage in every region of England even after accounting for homeowners’ repairs and maintenance costs [Shelter (The rent trap and the fading dream of owning a home, 2013)]. This is because, house prices are increasing and it is becoming more and more difficult to get a mortgage in the current climate. A cause being the demand outweighs the supply because there are too many people and not enough houses, which then drives up demand in other sectors, PRS in particular thus increasing rent prices. Chapter 3 looked at rent control, rent levels and the issues it poses in the PRS. Plus, how these can†¦show more content†¦The report also states that, of the 1.1 million families that rent in England, 48% worry about unaffordable rent; 38% worry about the contract terminated before they are ready to move and 44% don’t think of their private rented houses as homes. This then takes us back to the question can the private rented sector be used to house homeless people? The results in fig.6 shows an increase in rent levels both in the SRS and PRS, with the SRS increasing steadily over time as opposed to the PRS steadily increasing over the same period and then a slight decrease in 2012-13, and then increasing further in 2013-14. This further supports the issues of rent levels in the private sector and its inability to support homeless families with dependents, as these families will have insufficient funds to accommodate their needs e.g. cutting back on necessities such as food just to be able to keep up rent payments. In a research carried out by Shelter (Growing up renting: A childhood spent in private rented homes) 1 in 10 renting families have had to change their children’s schools due to moving. High rents can have a damaging impact on children’s lives especially if families are unable to keep up with rent increase. Thus, they find themselves having to move to and changing their children’s schools, which can have a negative impact on the development of a child and may lead to