How has the pandemic affected your ability to pay your rent or mortgage?

I don’t know why it’s happening all of a sudden now but in my area of London, many longterm landlords are starting to tell their properties all at the same time and their sitting tenants are finding that they can find no other affordable places to live anywhere nearby.

Just in my child’s class of 28/29 children there are two sets of parents in the exact same position at the same time with two different landlords: one a single mum and one two parents, both on local incomes and with two kids each.

They are looking further and further out because rents here - where they have lived for years - have gone up so far in the last few years.

They don’t have support networks in the outside parts of London. One family is Polish and they go to a given church and Polish school a bus ride away every weekend and have no car / money for one. The other speaks Portuguese and their job / friends / children’s school and nursery are all here where they live.

The Portuguese family - with two parents and two children - are open to living in a one bedroom flat but still can’t find a decent place to live in that they can afford.

My ability to pay rent and my savings increased as I left my previous job on Dec 2019 and only started a new on on Jul 2020. Since then, I moved from a shared house to a flat for myself which make me feel safer as I didn’t feel people I shared house with was taking good measures to be covid safe and the household had to self isolate twice while I was there. My mental health is also better for truly having a space for myself

The arrival of COVID 19 highlighted existing deficiencies in the state's provision, at national and and local levels, of healthcare in the most general sense and its failure to intervene to create decent housing. With regard to the former, a crucial factor was the assumption that hospital and medical services could be run on a "just in time" basis without any slack being provided for an emergency. Simple cost accounting ruled. In particular staff were not only paid low wages but were employed on zero hours contracts. This meant that, in care homes, staff acted as vectors of disease as they flitted from one establishement to another in a bid to increase their low earnings. With regard to housing, councils have abandoned what was once a core function (see John Boughton's "Municipal dreams : the rise and fall of council housing" ,2018) Post 1979, all governments have assumed that the market can provide, which manifestly it cannot. The housing crisis can only be solved by going back to basics ie. (1) Councils embarking on an in house programme of house building according to stringent "decent homes" and environmental standards.These homes will be built as a source of social investment to rent, not to buy, at actually affordable levels. The notion of affordability currently used is an insult to the English language.
(2) Intervention in the private sector with regard to enforcing decent standards which includes "pro tenant" conditions of tenure. Generally speaking that would mean enforcing rent reductions. Of course numerous landlords would howl in rage at such measures. Let them. Housing has to seen as a source of social utility, not as a means of private investment

In addition to my previous comments, too many houses are being built in London . Totteridge area on and earby is full of newly built flats. Foe whom ? Surely not for people outside London? Should be for Londoners only. Anyway building should be outside the M25 with excellent teavel links thrown in.
Bring back charging council house rents by the local council with NO right to buy.

Savings are more difficult to come by with cost of living going up so much. I could barely save anything before covid and now with inflation it’s impossible. Rent is £1700/month in zone 3. It’s madness. I’m 46, married, both professionals and there’s no way we can save enough for a deposit. Even if we could there would be no way to get a mortgage on a property in London as our combined income isn’t high enough for the £350k (for a tiny one bed!!) plus we would need to borrow. The only way would be shared ownership but since that is in the news on how you can be easily financially ruined when part owning that seems like a fools path forward. Londoners need more access to truly affordable housing - even those of us on “higher” incomes!

Do not forget the cladding issue which has affected us as pensioners in that it has put great uncertainty into our ability to turn our principal asset into cash should the need ever arise to e.g pay for care or to relocate for whatever reason. This has coincided with the pandemic.

In debt and no support from Mortgage lender One Account RBS. Had to borrow and beg to get through this period.

Generally however, why are you letting this Mayor achieve his Segregation by Design, making London a playground for the rich, making car travel only accessible by his rich friends and even building a new station for his developer friends. How much does he think is affordable housing in London? Bet the nurse, police person and candlestick maker could not afford it. What's happened to council accommodation? This Mayor has ruined the highstreet and how is the idiot going to plug the Billion pound hole not secured by his punitive charges. You have the responsibility to make this Mayor accountable. Do your own independent research on the tubes platforms for polution? What about the knife crime? Hold him to account!

Also homeless services and domestic violence services focus on younger people mainly and not much understand of middle aged or older people. Everyone thinks older Londoners have own home but isn't true. Is more important when older or disabled to have familiar place.

High risk domestic violence victims esp disabled should be like armed forces. Have local connection ignored for housing registers. Also should be allowed to go on housing register without doing homeless application if evidence (and they should accept non police evidence if victim not strong enough for police). Wait list not immediate solution but many victims suffer years of abuse. List gives chance. Also shouldn't be computer says no situations. If left DV, my abuser will move away so is safe to stay in same borough as long as not same address but councils refuse to take individual situations into account (probably just because they want get rid of you). Irony is when try other councils, they tell you to apply elsewhere. Also homeless application process lots of abusive people. I've had serious physical violence but 100% can say some council homeless departments (and social services) very mentally abusive. You give humiliating details of DV and then after that they just try to get rid of you. You mentally violated for nothing. They treat you like piece of worthless rubbish. Places also lie. One housing association told refuge worker they'd rehouse me then changed minds after was back home. Everywhere lets you down. A helpline told me about disability shared ownership mortgage MySafeHome but they only help if you have support worker. Have no support except GP. Had care coordinator but they no longer offer long term care coordinator. Don't need long term support. Safe housing in familiar place is my literally support. Terrible trap between DV or homeless or isolated unfamiliar place when vulnerable. When someone locked up for years with abuser, lost everything, familiar place is indescribably important and only chance of recovery. They also only help if you permanently unable to work. Irony is without safe home familiar place, will be permanent but with safe familiar home, chance eventually recover for at least part-time. Maybe won't ever recover but can't even try.

I have been very lucky, because I owned my own house and had cleared the mortgage before the Pandemic came. Most younger people are now in a very difficult position because most new housing built in London is usually sold internationally for investment purposes before the first brick is laid. People cannot afford to buy their own homes unless they are very rich, or are subsidised by wealthy parents. Rents are so high in London that most employed people cannot afford them. Since the Pandemic, there have been increasing numbers of people sleeping on the streets. The numbers are likely to increase more, since benefits were cut in October.
This situation is bad, not only for its victims, but for all of us. Young people have no incentive to save up for housing, since it is beyond their reach, and so they are more likely to turn to drugs and/or crime than people were in earlier times.

As a single working person on a below average to average salary of over 20years I have navigated the inconsistent unfair and poorly managed rental market that continues to persist. And those like me still single in our 40s are overlooked and denied access to social housing of any sort ...yet somehow over the years I see people who are able to access new builds through social housing and younger single people who have been able to get council housing...the system the processes is flawed , the housing sector dominated by few monopolies of builders and private housing associations rather than housing associations run by councils. Maybe I need to shack up with a partner make 3 or 4 kids or purposely make myself vulnerable and homeless and sofa surfing..welcome to greatly sad and unhappy Britain...why is it that France, Denmark, Sweden. Netherlands etc can just get it right on this topic ...oh because private businesses and interests have been kept out or tightly controlled.

For my household the main impact is the soaring prices of food and bills.,also the lack of being able to socialise and now the price rises for outings and amusements especially for children ie zoo's etc.

For my adult children , key workers, being stuck in a tiny private rented one bed flat with not much hope of getting council or an affordable larger flat for their family(2 Children) . Buying is out of the question as they could not save enough for a deposit with their money being taken up with the high rent.
THere are not enough council homes available or being built-instead a lot of 'affordable housing' which to many is not affordable.

I should be allowed assisted suicide if not allowed safe home. Am victim of long term domestic violence. Didn't leave or report to police ever even when serious violence because of the housing situation. I was stopped from working now can't currently work due to physical and mental injuries so no way to ever be ok because no safe private rentals for Londoners on benefits (and rents are higher than benefits), and councils won't let you even join their housing registers. If homeless including domestic violence they either do everything they can to get rid of you including breaking law or they send you far away to unfamiliar area in temporary for years. I'd rather die because familiar place is all I have left. Before the violence got worse, I planned to join the Londoners priced out and have better quality of life somewhere else but was healthy and younger and able to work. Now if forced out of London, will be very isolated and alone. Went to a refuge out of London and became suicidal. Was too much and felt very unwelcome because some of them didn't like Londoners and think we all rich. Fee despair and hopeless. Was meant to have a domestic violence support worker helping with rehousing. and was referred to my London borough social services by refuge area social worker. They were meant to help as socially excluded vulnerable adult but London social services not like the one outside London. London one told didn't matter of disabilities and high risk domestic violence. Told me to find my own private rent even though they knew am often housebound and also private landlords don't take benefits. Found out from a domestic violence helpline that housing associations can take direct referrals for domestic violence victory but only from support worker like social services or women's aid. London support services I begged repeatedly for help but they refused. One said they didn't help with rehousing, another said their list closed in my borough. Safe home is impossible dream.