London's growing army of private renters is being urged to vote for the mayoral candidate who will make lowering housing costs City Hall’s top priority.
A website to help identify the most “renter friendly” potential mayor launches today, showing each candidate’s policies graded on a traffic light system according to the extent they will help tenants.
It is an attempt by the Generation Rent group to harness the political power of private tenants, who make up a quarter of London’s 8.6 million population.
The website, votehomes2016.com, rates each of the policies from Labour’s Sadiq Khan, Tory Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Pidgeon for the Lib Dems; the Greens’ Sian Berry, George Galloway of Respect and UKIP’s Peter Whittle.
Red indicates policies that “fail to improve the status quo”, amber is for “on the right track”, and green denotes plans that “will significantly improve life for renters.”
So far the website rates Mr Khan’s policies the more attractive, with five amber and two green ratings. By contrast Mr Goldsmith has two reds and five ambers. The most pro-renter candidate is seen as Ms Berry.
Generation Rent research suggests that there is now not a single borough in London where typical private rents on a two-bedroom home can be classed as “affordable” for the average young couple. Across London the median rent would take up 52 per cent of the median salary — much more than the 30 per cent usually considered “affordable”.
Betsy Dillner, of Generation Rent, said: “People who grew up here face an impossible choice about their future. We need a mayor who will make lower rents a first priority.”
