More than one in three families in the United Kingdom do not have any savings and they completely rely on monthly pay to get through the month. The housing charity Shelter found that around 37% of working families would be unable to cover their housing costs for more than a month if one partner loses their job. The findings mirror government figures show that there are 16.5 million working age adults in the UK with no savings.
More than eight million people are one payday away from not being able to pay their rent. Shocking stats have been released by housing charity Shelter, revealing that alarmingly 4.4 million people (that is around 18%) said that if they lost their jobs this month and couldn’t get a new one right away, they would not be able to pay their rent or mortgage at all.
The chief executive of Shelter, Campbell Robb, said: “These figures are a stark reminder that sky-high housing costs are leaving millions of working families stretched to breaking point and barely scraping by from one paycheque to the next.”
An annual survey by US website Bankrate revealed that 63% of the United State’s adults do not have emergency money of a minimal amount of even $1000 (£770), if they have to get their car fixed or house repaired in an emergency and will turn to use credit cards. The complications of poor salaries and rising costs of amenities, means working class people living from one month’s pay to the next with no savings to speak of. Unfortunately, this is now ubiquitous in English-speaking western economies such as the UK, Canada, the US and Australia.
There are many reasons to which English citizens face these financial breakdowns. Many savings accounts pay virtually zero interest after the Bank of England cut the base rate of 0.25% in mid August 16. The growing increase in high interest rate loans and car finance are prime reasons why most households struggle with their finances.
Losing a job, relationship breakdowns and debt are also major contributors to households falling into serious problems.
Shelter’s research shows that families with children are at most risk of losing their homes. 43% of people in the U.K. admit they couldn’t pay for their home for more than a month, and nearly a quarter at 23% say they could not meet their payments at all.
Shelter interviewed various people, including a lady named Lou and her two children.
She and her children began to struggle financially after a separation from her partner a couple of years back. She works full time as carer for patients with complex needs and has downsized into a small flat, but even still finds keeping up with the rent every month challenging.
She added; “I couldn’t afford to buy my son a proper birthday present this year and I felt awful about it, but I don’t think you should hide everything from your children. You don’t want to expose them to too much, but at the same time, if you simply can’t afford things, you have to explain that to them.”
In the effort of trying to make her situation better she changed jobs. “An employer had given me some work and didn’t tell me that her hours wouldn’t be guaranteed.” She lost hours of her income all of a sudden and almost lost her home. “It was really scary”, she said.
There are many people like her who are financially disadvantaged and their lives heavily rely on their monthly earnings.
I was inspired to spread awareness on homelessness due to a twitter timeline I captured recently:
In Manchester, England: there was statement circulating, stating that any person found to be homeless would be arrested and consequently fined. See snapshot below:
– Captured from @GoogleExpertUK twitter timeline –
Homelessness is not a choice, but a collection of complex issues beyond the victim’s control. Practically picture this: imagine fighting to rise above the water – but regardless of what you do, you are still sinking.
What can you do to help anyone who may be facing this path but do not even know it yet?
Share this post via your social media network or via your WhatsApp contacts.
By sharing this content, you may be able to save one person/family/friend from becoming homeless. You can help your community become a step closer to addressing this problem.
Help centres:
Step Change: The Foundation for Credit Counselling, trading as StepChange is a debt charity registered in the United Kingdom. Their team of debt experts help over 500,000 people a year across the UK to overcome their debt problems, and get their lives back on track. Available in the United Kingdom/Ireland.
Shelter: Exists to help millions of people every year struggling with unfit housing or homelessness through Shelter advice, support and legal services. Available in England and Scotland.
– Highlight: Amy Varle addressing homelessness, visit: “www.propertyinvestmentsuk.co.uk/blog” to follow her journey –
Did I leave out any useful information to prevent homelessness that have worked well for you or someone you know? Please share yours in the comment box below?
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