28 Dec 2024

Rising rents leads to increasing poverty in Germany

Tino Jacobson & Markus Salzmann


More and more households in Germany are affected by poverty. One of the main reasons for this is the rapid rise in rents. According to a study by the Paritätischer Welfare Association, which, unlike conventional studies, also takes housing costs into account, 17.5 million people in the country are now affected by poverty, 5.4 million more than previously calculated.

Current housing adverts for Frankfurt am Main

According to the study, people are considered poor if they have less than 60 percent of the median income at their disposal. According to the study, this puts the poverty rate across Germany at 21.2 percent, compared to 14.4 percent according to conventional calculations. This means that poverty is far more widespread than officially recognised.

According to the association, millions of people remain invisible in the usual poverty statistics because their housing costs are not considered. “Anyone who only considers income, but not the fact that people have less and less money at their disposal because they have to pay high housing costs, overlooks the extent of poverty in Germany,” the analysis states.

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are particularly affected by poverty at 31 percent and pensioners at around 27 percent. Single parents are also disproportionately affected at 36 percent.

The unemployed face the greatest risk of slipping into poverty. Here, the poverty rate adjusted for housing costs is 61.3 percent. Citizens allowance (basic income support), which is already far too low, will not be increased in the coming year so as not to burden government budgets, meaning that an increase in poverty is inevitable.

Households in Bremen (29.3 percent), Saxony-Anhalt (28.6 percent) and Hamburg (26.8 percent) are most affected by housing poverty. While the poverty rate in Berlin is 13.7 percent according to conventional calculations, this rises to 20.8 percent when housing costs are taken into account. The situation is very similar in Brandenburg. The difference between the calculations is most pronounced in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

The fact that poverty is increasingly being caused by sky-rocketing housing costs is shown by the fact that more and more households are having to spend an ever-larger proportion of their income on housing.

While an average of 21.5 percent of income was spent on housing in 2020, this proportion had risen to 25.2 percent by 2023. For households affected by poverty, the figure is a staggering 46 percent.

The policies of federal and state governments of all political colours have led to a massive increase in rents in recent years, which are becoming almost impossible to afford for ever larger sections of the population. At the same time, property companies are making fantastic profits.

In Berlin, rents literally exploded between 2014 and 2023. During this period, the average rent rose from €8.10 to €16.35 per square metre.

Rents for new lettings in Berlin and Potsdam have risen more than in any other region in Germany. According to the report, Potsdam recorded the largest increase of all districts and independent cities for first-time and re-letting with a rise of 31.2 percent in 2023. It was followed by Berlin with an increase of 26.7 percent.

On average across Germany, rents for first-time lettings and re-lettings rose by 7.3 percent in 2023. Berlin is now the second most expensive city in Germany at over €16 per square metre. Rents are only higher in Munich, at more than €20 per square metre.

With the planned end of the so-called rent cap at the end of 2025, rents will continue to rise exorbitantly. With the rent cap, new lettings may not be more than 10 percent above the local comparative rent, although this only applies in special situations anyway and can be easily circumvented.

Lukas Siebenkotten, President of the German Tenants’ Association, pointed out that with the end of the rent cap, “re-letting rents would skyrocket, as there would then no longer be an effective cap.” In short, rents will then rise even more sharply and poverty and homelessness will increase even further.

In addition, the number of social housing units has fallen dramatically. In 1987, there were still 3.9 million social housing units in Germany, but these have been reduced to just under 1 million today. In Berlin, there were almost 400,000 social housing units in the early 2000s, of which just 90,000 are still available. In addition, a further 47,700 will fall out of social housing by the end of 2026. In contrast, over one million people in the capital alone would be entitled to social housing.

The Berlin state government, made up of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD), has put together a massive austerity package for the coming year that will further exacerbate the situation. Social housing subsidies will also be cut by €150 million euros, which amounts to 10 percent of the previous subsidy amount of €1.5 billion. As a result, even fewer social housing units will be built in future. In addition, subsidies to limit rents in social housing will be cut by 45 percent. The Berlin Senate (state executive) is reducing the subsidies here from €7.1 million to just €3.9 million.

The cooperation agreement between the Senate and the state-owned housing companies, which has been in place since 2023, has allowed for an annual rent increase of 2.9 percent since 2024. The state-owned housing companies have announced further sharp rent increases for 2025. Tenants of Wohnbaugesellschaft Stadt und Land in Treptow-Köpenick can expect a rent increase of up to €11.24 per square metre.

On the other hand, the management boards of the state-owned housing companies are receiving generous salaries. Ulrich Schiller from Howoge, which made a profit of €79.3 million in 2023, received a total of €347,133 in remuneration last year. Sandra Wehrmann from Degewo, which made a profit of €82 million in 2023, received €351,671.

This remuneration is still low compared to that of the large property companies. In 2022, the former head of Deutsche Wohnen, Michael Zahn, received over €18 million in severance payments alone following the successful merger with Vonovia.

The rising burden of rents for millions of people is symptomatic of the prevailing capitalist socio-economic order. While a narrow layer at the top of society is shamelessly enriching itself at the expense of the population, all social achievements are falling victim to austerity measures. Instead of investing money in affordable housing, millions are being spent on war and strengthening the powers of the state.

27 Dec 2024

Vera List Center Announces The 2025 Fellowships For Early Career Writers, Scholars and Artists

Application Deadline:

The application deadline is January 6, 2025.

Tell Me About The Vera List Center Fellowship:

The Vera List Center (VLC) Fellowship supports the development and presentation of ambitious art and research projects by national and international early or mid-career artists, writers, scholars, and activists. It prioritizes individuals from underrepresented communities in the art world and those whose experimental, political, or research-intensive practices often face limited support. This two-year, part-time, non-residential fellowship offers financial, curatorial, and professional resources to fellows, enabling them to develop and present their projects within the interdisciplinary context of The New School and VLC’s public programs. Fellows benefit from collaboration with VLC staff, faculty, and students, as well as access to institutional networks, fostering intellectual growth and professional development.

Which Fields are Eligible?

Social Sciences

Type:

Fellowship 

Who can Apply For The Vera List Center Fellowship?

Also, the eligibility criteria include:

  • Open to journalists, scholars, activists, visual and performing artists, critics, public intellectuals, curators, and cultural practitioners.
  • Applicants must demonstrate experience in conceiving, researching, and executing work or projects.
  • Candidates must not be enrolled in a degree-granting program.
  • Projects focused on promotion, funding business operations, or curating/documenting existing work are not eligible.
  • Strong encouragement is given to candidates from diverse backgrounds worldwide, especially those lacking significant institutional support.

How are Applicants Selected?

  • Artistic and/or scholarly excellence of the proposed project.
  • Alignment of the project with the VLC Focus Theme: Matter of Intelligence.
  • Long-term significance of the fellowship and project to the candidate’s practice.
  • Feasibility and practicality of completing the project within the fellowship timeframe.
  • Alignment between VLC and New School resources and the project’s needs.
  • Contribution to advancing diverse insights into politically engaged art.

Required Documents:

Applicants are also to submit the following documents:

  • A detailed project proposal outlining the fellowship project.
  • Evidence of experience in researching and executing similar projects.
  • Professional CV or resume.
  • Samples of past work relevant to the proposed project.

Which Countries Are Eligible?

All countries 

Where will the Award be Taken?

The New School, New York City, USA (with intermittent short-term residencies for non-New York residents).

How Many Awards?

Not specified

What is the Benefit of the Vera List Center Fellowship?

Additionally, the benefits include:

  • A $25,000 research stipend (subject to taxes and deductions).
  • Budget allocation for travel, project production, and presentation.
  • Access to The New School’s academic, library, and professional resources.
  • Collaboration with VLC staff, faculty, and students.
  • Professional and curatorial development support.
  • Opportunities for public presentation of the project.
  • Connection with VLC’s institutional networks and partners.
  • Pairing with a VLC Board companion for guidance and mentorship.

How Long Will the Award Last?

2 years

How to Apply:

To begin your application, visit: Vera List Center Application Website.

America’s Invisible Sports Betting Epidemic

Stewart Lawrence





The Cardsharps, c. 1594, by Caravaggio

What do Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. have in common? They’re all sports superstars, of course. But they’re also something else: Hard-core gambling addicts.

Mayweather, Jr. regularly gambles as much as $400,000 on college football games. He reportedly once won $3 million on a single Orange Bowl contest. But his biggest bet – and loss — came in 2014, when he wagered $10 million that the Denver Broncos would win the Super Bowl. In fact, the Broncos were crushed 43-8 by the Seattle Seahawks in one of the biggest Super Bowl blow-outs in history.

Jordan, meanwhile, is fond of betting on golf, including his own head-to-head contests with Woods and Barkley. He once lost a $1.25 million golf competition with Richard Esquinas, a private businessman from San Diego.

There are rumors, never confirmed, that Jordan’s gambling habit – which includes unsuccessful betting on poker and roulette at casinos in Atlantic City — was a major reason behind his retirement from basketball.

Woods, it seems, has a penchant for card gambling. He reportedly bets $25,000 a hand when he plays his favorite game – Blackjack — and is known throughout the casino circuit as a high-roller player.

According to one source, “he’s even received a $1 million betting limit by the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he always requests for the table to be filled with beautiful girls.”

None of these sports celebrities seems to have lost it all gambling – and they have the talent and drive – and above all, the money — to rebuild their fortunes after suffering major reversals.

But the average Joe is rarely so lucky.

The “mainstreaming” of sports betting

Sports betting, mostly illicit, has existed on the margins for decades.  But these days there are more legalized gambling opportunities than ever, thanks to a landmark 2018 Supreme Court decision that lifted the federal ban on sports betting.

Since then, 38 states, including Nevada, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as Washington, DC have legalized the practice, with another 21 states considering similar laws.  It won’t be long, industry experts say, before sports betting is as commonplace — and frequent – as purchasing a ticket to a movie.

Sports betting is not the only form of legalized gambling, but it’s spreading faster than most. In part, that’s because it appeals most heavily to younger demographics, especially Millennials.  About 86% of all sports betting occurs online or with mobile apps, a practice which favors youth cohorts.

Men are also the primary sports betters, about 90%, according to Helixa, a user-insights platform.  Young African-American and Hispanic males are disproportionately high users. More than half fall into the 18-34 age bracket.

In 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, there was an 80% increase in the practice.  Currently, more than 20% of Americans place a sports bet monthly.

But these numbers are paltry compared to what’s coming. Some of the country’s largest and most populous states, including New York, California and Texas, have yet to legalize sports betting, but almost certainly will within a year or two – barring a pushback from Congress or from federal regulators

Goldman Sachs estimates that the combination of legislative initiatives and wider consumer adoption could push online sports betting from $900 million in 2021 to a $39 billion market in 2033 – a 300% increase.

Prop betting is more widespread

Another factor fueling sports betting growth is that more kinds of sporting events are being targeted by betters than ever before.

In past decades major sporting events like the National Football League Super Bowl, the Major League Baseball World Series and the NBA Championship Finals were the main venues.  Many work colleagues and neighbors placed friendly bets with each other.  Some risk takers, like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. placed huge bets in Las Vegas, hoping for a jackpot.

But these days no sporting event, however small, is safe from the predatory clutches of gamblers and their “enablers.” Currently, the one main restriction on legal betting is college sports, but it may be only a matter of time before this restriction falls, too.

Another accelerating factor is that gamblers no longer just bet on the final outcome of sports events, or the “spread” – the point difference between the game’s winner and loser.  Increasingly, they also bet on the performance of individual athletes (for example, whether a quarterback will throw a touchdown, and how many) or on the outcome of individual plays (will the kicker’s field goal be successful?)

These so-called “proposition” or “prop” bets have transformed sports betting into a live ongoing practice, with gamblers placing bets continuously as a sporting event unfolds.  Typically, prop bets are fairly small – for example, $50-$100 on the success of a field goal kick, rather than $1,000-$5,000 on the game’s final outcome – but over the course of a single sporting event, their value quickly adds up.

Finally, it’s worth noting that sports betting is especially lucrative as a source of advertising revenue as well as tax revenue for fiscally-strapped states.  Consumers also tend to be more receptive to taxes on betting than on other activities.  All of these factors are acting as huge accelerants to the sports betting trend.

Risk of gambling addiction growing

Arnie Wexler, a compulsive-gambling specialist, predicts that “mainstreaming” sports betting will unleash “a volcano of gambling addiction in America.”  Prior to the legalization of sports betting, researchers estimated the lifetime gambling addiction prevalence rate at about 2% for “pathological” gambling and about 4% for the less severe condition dubbed “problem” gambling – or 6% total.

That may not sound like an epidemic, but it means that more than 15 million Americans, many of them poor and middle class, are suffering the fall-out from spending and losing hard-earned money on gambling.

And the numbers are getting worse. The National Council on Problem Gambling, a Washington-based nonprofit, estimates that gambling addiction, much of it sports-related, has doubled over the past two years.  State governments are aware of the problem but tracking and treating people with gambling problems is not yet a top priority, Wexler and others say.

Some sports betting centers have tried to limit the amounts that bettors can wager on a specific sporting event.  And a few states, while legalizing sports betting overall, still restrict online betting, which helps. But these measures are only slowing down the trend, Wexler and others say.  And many of these restrictions are poorly enforced, or easy to evade.

The larger problem, perhaps, is that compulsive gambling is something of an “invisible” addiction. Many Americans that gamble compulsively – like alcoholics – deny they have a problem, until it spirals out of control.  And the fall-out can be severe. Gambling addicts can rack up massive credit card debt, drain their retirement and savings accounts and eventually sell off valuables and even furniture to feed their “habit.”

While some are forced to stop – or “white knuckle” – their addiction because they simply run out of money, others are so addicted they turn to illegal activity – forging signatures on checks or other forms of outright theft, including embezzlement – just to secure more funds to gamble.  Gambling addiction is also linked to other addictions and mental disorders including depression, chronic anxiety and substance abuse.

With the rise of unregulated sports betting, and the introduction of more sophisticated and mobile betting technology, industry experts like Wexler say these problems are beginning to skyrocket.  Already more consumers are asking for help.  Calls to a national hotline for gambling addiction increased by 33% during 2020-2021.

“It’s this ticking time bomb,” Keith Whyte, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, told NBC News recently. “We have to take action now.”

Will regulation help?

Despite acknowledging a growing problem, the sports betting world is divided over whether and how to regulate an industry that is being fueled by an insatiable popular demand.  Sports betting also thrives because it’s a source of revenue for cash-strapped states facing persistent fiscal deficits. Most states impose a flat tax or take a percentage of gross profits from sports betting companies; they also collect a one-time application fee for operating in the state. New York, for example, earned $700 million in taxes from sports gambling in 2022.

But the chase after easy money could surely use more guardrails both to protect consumers and to share the benefits from sports betting – and online gambling generally – more widely. Just last week, the US Senate Judiciary committee held its first-ever public hearings to discuss the sports betting epidemic and possible solutions, including federal regulations that could supplant the current patchwork of laws and guidelines passed by states thus far.  Most of those testifying said they supported legalized sports betting but felt that the industry – led by BetMGM and DraftKings  – was being granted carte blanche to advertise and promote the industry with virtual impunity, ignoring the mounting social costs.

Among the reforms suggested at the hearing were a crackdown on the unrestrained advertising currently underway on college campuses that is  luring youngsters to place sports bets, as well as more federal and state resources to support gambling addiction programs.

Keith Whyte, the afore-mentioned executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling told the committee, “As of last year, for every dollar states have generated from commercial gambling, just .0009 cents were invested in problem gambling services. While substance use disorder is seven times more common in the United States than gambling disorder, substance use disorder receives 338 times more public funding,” he noted.

Predictably, sports betting industry representatives boycotted the Senate hearing, saying the committee members were recycling “myths” about the dangers of sports betting while minimizing its benefits to states and to individual consumers alike.  But critics say the industry is kidding itself and could soon face the same kinds of pressures that led the tobacco industry to face a massive, indeed crippling, crackdown, including injury lawsuits and tight restrictions on sports gambling venues and products, especially mobile apps that have allowed the industry to mushroom in the space of a few years.

The road ahead

Online gambling – especially the recent surge in sports betting – is just the latest form of addictive activity that provides a dysfunctional palliative for the social and psychological ills that so many Americans face as they struggle with low-paying stress-filled jobs, declining real wages and widening income inequality.  For a growing number, sports betting – like playing the lottery, but with better odds – offers the fantasy of scoring a quick kill – or amassing a large fortune – to offset their current financial predicament, or simply to distract them from a host of personal problems and gnawing anxieties.  Some modest sports bettors do gain from their small periodic investments, enough to keep them in the game and supportive of the practice overall.  But too many of the heavy users, whose numbers are growing rapidly, run the risk of losing it all while leaving their lives and families destroyed or damaged.

Nearly six years after the US Supreme Court declared sports betting a constitutional right, some of the unfortunate consequences of that decision are finally coming into focus. But while debate is growing, there’s little consensus on how far the federal government or state government can go to rein in an activity that the High Court has allowed to flourish with such impunity. Fortunately, at least a dozen states are still holding out on the issue, and twenty one states are still opposed to sports betting conducted online or with mobile apps, which has allowed the practice to skyrocket.  In addition, a majority of older voters, ages 65 and above, and women – in contrast to youth, especially men – still tend to express staunch opposition to sports betting, according to opinion surveys. Opinions among middle range age groups are more mixed.  Surprisingly, Republican voters – in Red-leaning states like Texas and Missouri – seem decidedly more inclined than their Democratic counterparts to oppose the expansion of sports betting.

This partisan split is also apparent at the national leadership level. There is some evidence, in fact, that senior Democrats, while alarmed at the sports betting trend, may be more inclined than their Republican colleagues to support the industry overall. Back in 2019, in a surprise move, then-President Trump’s Justice Department called for restricting the promotion of sports betting across state lines, consistent with the 1961 Wire Act. But two years later, President Biden’s DOJ challenged that interpretation, arguing that additional restrictions on online gambling – beyond those established by Obama in 2011 – were unnecessary.  Democrats, consistent with their views on marijuana legalization – or even, the legalization of prostitution – may be more inclined to treat sports betting as a personal freedom, or “choice” issue, rather than a social issue with public health consequences. Moreover, some of the leading gambling states that support sports betting – Nevada, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Biden’s own Delaware, where some of the major betting forms are based – also lean Blue on the political spectrum. More research is needed, but it could be that lobbying by the major sports betting firms – plus, pressure from Democratic voting constituents – explains what appears to be Democratic favoritism toward the industry at the highest levels of its leadership.

The same questions must also be raised about the incoming Trump administration. The president-elect owns several hotels with gambling casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere. He’s also a diehard supporter of the unregulated free market. But he’s proven equivocal on the sports betting issue in the past.  His first administration took no formal action to promote the industry – quite the contrary.  And the proposed policy agenda for his new regime – Agenda 47, like his first administration – makes no mention of sports betting or gambling at all. (Neither, for that matter, does the policy agenda, such that it is, of his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris).

The upshot? Presently, there’s a dearth of public and political awareness of the scope of the sports betting industry and the benefits and risks of its rapid, largely unchecked growth. An explosion of consumer demand – stoked by rabid unchecked industry advertising – is driving the market to new heights, largely under the radar screen. But pushback from hold-out states – including Democratic California – is growing, and some prominent members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have finally begun to take notice. Fortunately, the industry – and the issue – is still in its infancy.  Which means there’s still time for a full-fledged national debate – and appropriate federal intervention – before sports betting becomes so deeply ingrained in the popular consciousness – and entrenched in state and local economies – that a discussion of meaningful reform becomes practically impossible.

Explosive growth of homelessness in England

Simon Whelan


Homelessness in England has increased by 14 percent in the last year, according to the charity Shelter, who described their latest figures as “shocking” and “astounding”.

The report estimates that on any given night more than 354,000 people in England are homeless—an incredible one in 160 people. The figure includes 161,500 children in the world’s sixth biggest economy. Last year the figure was one in 182 people.

Homeless people in tents adjacent to Manchester Town Hall, December 21, 2024

In May, the Financial Times, informed by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data, estimated the UK as the world’s worst country for homelessness, with one in 200 UK households living in temporary accommodation. This appears a serious underestimation in light of Shelter’s figures and because homelessness in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is considered worse than in England.

The 354,000 homeless would fill Wembley Stadium in London almost four times over. The number of homeless children alone in England is not far short of filling the national stadium twice. Shelter believes even these shocking figures are a significant underestimation because phenomena like “sofa surfing” goes unrecorded.

“Across England”, Chief executive of Shelter Polly Neate explained to the media, “extortionate private rents” combined with a “dire lack of genuinely affordable social homes” is “trapping more and more people in homelessness”.

“Parents are spending sleepless nights worrying about their children growing up in cramped and often damaging temporary accommodation, as weeks and months turn into years without somewhere secure for them to call home.” Neate said she believed “temporary” was a misnomer because it was frequently anything but, with family stays often extending for years.

Neate’s point about lack of affordable social homes is a crucial one, with the Labour government nominally set to build some 1.5 million housing units but with very few plans for a genuine social rented status, i.e., affordable rents around 50 percent of market rates paid to either the local authority or a housing association.

Increasingly “affordable” and “social rented” mean rents of approximately 80 percent of the market or part owned property purchases from housing associations that are increasingly detached from their role as providers of public housing and becoming more marketised and profit seeking.

Shelter claims their research represents “the most comprehensive overview of recorded homelessness in England”. Shelter’s estimate is more encompassing and therefore more accurate because it counts people living in local authority arranged temporary accommodation, those who have arranged their own temporary accommodation, rough-sleepers and single people in hostels but not counted in government figures.

Shelter also included figures from Freedom of Information requests made to councils seeking to ascertain accurate numbers in temporary accommodation arranged by social services. They also included those made “legally homeless”, who cannot continue to reside in the present property, including those whose property is being foreclosed by a lending agency.

Consequently the homeless categories utilised by Shelter in their total include; 3,556 living in accommodation provided by social services—and the estimated number of people homeless and living in temporary accommodation arranged by them or “homeless at home”—at the end of June 2024 was 7,004 in total.

Shelter cited several factors; “extortionate private rents”, rising evictions and a chronic and “dire lack of genuinely affordable” public housing, for “trapping” ever greater numbers in homelessness. In addition, more protracted issues have exacerbated the housing crisis; inadequate rates of housebuilding, both private and public, a dwindling and increasingly residualised public housing sector and yearly cuts to housing benefits making affordable market rental properties increasingly rare.

London, with extortionate living costs, has the highest ratio of homeless people in England (one in 47) with the total number of people experiencing homelessness in the capital rising by 12 percent over the last year to 187,000. The London borough with the highest rate of homelessness is Newham—with a population of over 350,000—with a jaw-dropping one in 18 homeless!

The English local authority with the highest rate of homelessness outside the capital is Slough, Berkshire, where one in 51 people are homeless. In Luton one in 57 people are homeless; in Manchester one in 61; in the UK’s second biggest city Birmingham one in 62; and in coastal town Hastings, Sussex; one in 64.

Unprecedented pressure on working class household budgets and ruthless private landlords mean many people were now often experiencing homelessness for the first time in their lives. Shelter used the case study of Sally, 43, who is now living in temporary accommodation provided by Shelter in Dorset with her 14 years old daughter. Sally was evicted and spent eight hours on the street before getting a hotel room.

“I’ve always paid my rent on time but was still locked out of my home on the day the bailiffs came. I had to wait on the street for the whole day before me and my daughter were put in a hotel room by the council. It smelled like a urinal and was covered in pet hair, which made my chronic illness worse and left me very poorly. I’m grateful for Shelter’s support stepping in and getting us out of there.”

Conditions in temporary local authority accommodation are often “atrocious”, admitted the FT, with damp and mould commonplace, likewise rodent and insect infestations.

Working class families find themselves out on the street unable to afford private rented accommodation, and with local authorities managing a declining number of public housing units whilst demand grows in inverse proportion.

Workers’ incomes have been devastated over the past decade and a half by austerity measures and the cost-of-living crisis, with longer term welfare cuts and wages falling drastically in real terms under inflationary pressure. After a period of decline the number of English households living in temporary accommodation more than doubled between 2010 and 2023 from 48,000 to 112,000, which then was the highest figure since records began.

The primary reason for the explosion of homelessness is the deliberate decimation of public housing beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating since through right-to-buy legislation, demolition and gentrification by Labour, Tory and coalition administrations alike. Media estimates of a 25 percent decimation of the public housing stock since the 1970s are conservative, especially for the major cities and London formerly with high numbers of now demolished multi-storey estates.

The destruction of council housing is a social crime that continues to wreak havoc across working-class communities. England’s chronic shortage of public housing has left over 1.3 million households on council housing waiting lists across the country. Over the past five years, the parlous state of temporary accommodation has been cited as a contributing factor in the deaths of 55 children in England.

With so few housing units left, families who become homeless have little hope of moving into a safe and secure property. Instead, thousands of families are forced to eke out an existence, spending months crammed into inadequate rooms, often sharing kitchens and bathrooms with strangers. Those who do not meet draconian conditions for acceptance and are deemed not entitled to homelessness accommodation are forced to rotate through friends and family or sleep-rough on the streets.

Relative to population size, 65 million, the UK builds far fewer new homes, private and public, than most comparable sized economies. The housing shortage has sent private sector rents skywards. According to research by the Institute of Fiscal Studies the share of private rented homes in England where rents are covered by housing benefit has declined from one in six to one in 20 in just a decade.