Rising private rents are pricing lower-income families out of stable housing and intensifying poverty, according to a new report that links the rental market directly to worsening health and wellbeing.
The study, led by Christine Whitehead and Kelvin MacDonald and sponsored by Family Building Society, argues that the shortage of social and affordable homes has left many households dependent on the private rented sector, where costs continue to outpace earnings.
Private rents are now too high for many families on lower incomes, the authors say, contributing to rising homelessness and growing pressure on local authorities. The report highlights that this trend is most acute in London and the South East, where demand for affordable housing far exceeds supply.
Prices and rents are increasing faster than wages across much of the country, creating what the report describes as an acute shortage of genuinely affordable homes. The authors question whether current housing policy will reverse this imbalance, particularly as government priorities remain focused on new-build delivery.
“This concentration on new-build and, in particular, on the operation of the planning system is a key factor affecting the supply of housing with, for example, increasingly long timescales from application to decision,” said Professor Whitehead.
“This concentration on new-build and, in particular, on the operation of the planning system is a key factor affecting the supply of housing with, for example, increasingly long timescales from application to decision.”
The report also challenges the likelihood of meeting the government’s target of 1.5 million new homes, arguing that planning delays and land use constraints make the goal highly uncertain.
An earlier study published in July 2025 and also sponsored by the Family Building Society proposed three immediate policy changes to ease the housing crisis:
Scrap stamp duty for older people
Tax short lets and second homes
Treat private landlords as normal profit-making organisations
None of these recommendations were adopted, the authors note.
The current report says housing affordability is now one of the most pressing issues facing households, especially those with limited resources or previous housing difficulties.
“The major issue in understanding affordability is that no dwelling is exactly like any other,” concluded Professor MacDonald. “Dwellings differ in terms of types, age, number and size of rooms, availability of outside space and location. No dwelling is exactly like another, and value is difficult to assess.
“Rising house prices, for example, have different effects on different groups as well as different attributes between dwellings.”
Beyond rents and prices, the authors identify wider structural constraints that continue to stall affordable housing delivery. These include:
The capacity and business models of the housebuilding sector
Large numbers of unimplemented planning permissions
Skills shortages in construction and public sector planning
The financial position of housing associations
As a result, many sites remain on hold because developers cannot secure contracts with registered providers for the affordable housing component. In some parts of England, concerns over scheme viability are preventing projects from moving forward at all.
The report also draws attention to the growing cost burden on local authorities, which are legally required to house homeless households while facing shrinking budgets for non-statutory services.
“At the limit, the problem is not simply affordability but actually ensuring a roof over people’s heads,” said the authors.
