That the Labour manifesto was leaked before the official launch next Tuesday comes as little surprise to anyone following the internal machinations of the party. Most proposals have been met with approval, disregarding the histrionics of the Daily Mail which considers nationalisation a “return to the 1970s” even though Theresa May’s claim that there are “boys’ jobs” and “girls’ jobs” at home is apparently utterly modern.

Meanwhile, in the Mirror, one anonymous figure on the right of the Labour party was worried that the manifesto was “all concern for the ‘feckless poor’ and nothing for the hard-working majority”. Even leaving aside the spite of the comment and disregard for the portion of the electorate in poverty, the poor and the hard-working are not separate categories. More people in poverty are in work than out of it.

Simply, work doesn’t pay and, contrary to Conservative claims, is not a route out of poverty for millions of people.

A new report by Shelter confirms this. Research by the housing charity with pollsters YouGov found that one in three low earners have borrowed money to pay their rent, either from family and friends or through credit cards and payday loans. A full 70% of low earners are either struggling or falling behind with rent payments, barely managing to keep a roof over their heads.



While the Conservatives have focused on making homes marginally more affordable to buy through help-to-buy, shared ownership and equity schemes, none of these will make a difference for most people in housing need: after paying their rent, 800,000 low-earning renters aren’t able to save even £10 a month , so saving for a deposit would take decades.

After paying their rent, 800,000 low-earning renters aren’t able to save even £10 ​a month​

The hardhearted will argue that people who can’t afford their rent should move elsewhere, but low pay is ubiquitous and there are more job opportunities are in places with higher rents. Moving costs a considerable sum: if you can barely afford to save £10 a month, summoning up a rental deposit, first month’s rent and removal fees are far beyond your resources unless you deliberately fall behind on your rent.

The millions of people working hard but still struggling are trapped by a housing system that has sold off social housing and left no intermediate housing for those who can’t afford private rent at the market rate yet don’t qualify for the sliver of social housing left in their area.

Shelter argues that half a million “living rent” homes are needed, linked to local earnings so that low earners have a chance of affording their homes rather than relying on sources of credit not open to everyone. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has called for something similar. Increasingly, organisations that deal with poverty and housing are clamouring for a housing solution that tackles affordability, not just supply. Arguing that simply increasing supply will cause the market to automatically grow fairer is nonsense. As JRF points out, after paying their housing costs, an extra 3.4 million people are in poverty. That’s a huge amount of human suffering.

When scrutinising manifesto policies on housing, affordability should be taken into consideration. If each party promises to build the same number of homes, but one will not be drawn on the type or tenure of those built, you can guarantee they’ll be unaffordable for the majority. It shouldn’t need to be said, but repeatedly does: housing is a basic human need. The fact that so many people are struggling to pay their rent should elicit outrage and shame. And credit is finite: eventually those borrowing to cover rent won’t be able to borrow more, and will become homeless or cost the local authority more when they need rehousing. And if people in work are struggling with rent, what hope do people out of work have?

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