End of tenancy.

Getting on to the ‘housing ladder’ has been in the news for years.  We hardly ever hear about sliding down the ‘housing snake’.

Your landlord needs to sell.  You’re faced with an unaffordable rent rise.  Whatever the reason, your tenancy ends and you have to move.  You have children so you need new accommodation of similar size or larger.

This year we’re seeing a growing number of families in this situation.

The parents are in steady jobs but on modest incomes so their search is almost hopeless.  They want to join a social housing list but are unlikely to qualify (and even if they do the list is long and the number of properties on it is falling).

In effect they now have two options.  Either leave the area which may also mean leaving the job or splitting up the family.  Or make a successful homelessness application to the borough which must then find them suitable accommodation.

Not surprisingly such a choice comes as a shock to people who are working hard and doing their best.  It should also be a shock to policy-makers in our prosperous county and region.