‘I was a pandemic hero – now I’ve been forced to live in a caravan because of housing crisis’
Kirsty Brett searched for a flat in the Essex town of Canvey Island for two years.
The 34-year-old, who lives with her parents and earns £27,000 as a carer, felt she was well placed to find a suitable one-bedroom flat where she could move into and gain independence.
But all he could find were flats in Castle Point, a local authority, priced between £1,300 and £1,400 per month. average rents increased 7 percent last year.
“How can I afford this and pay my bills, food, and other things on my own from my salary?” he said. “I had no choice but to look for other ways to separate from my parents.”
Miss Brett, who works as a carer, decided to move 80 miles to join her sister in Bury St Edmunds before attempting to buy a £10,000 caravan in May, selling two cars and taking out a loan to pay off her debt.
“I was happy to do it, but I also felt like I was forced to go this route if I wanted to live on my own,” she said.
He initially worked in a residential and holiday park paying £800 a month, before moving into a friend’s driveway in Bury St Edmunds a few weeks ago. He said his friend needed help running errands due to his health, so it made sense to live outside the home.
“You gotta do what you gotta do,” he said.
“If you’re like me and don’t mind keeping small spaces tidy, that’s okay. It may not be perfect, but the caravan has everything I need – bed, kitchen, toilet and TV.”
“I’m lucky I was able to buy it, because I wasn’t prepared to throw myself into an early grave to pay the exorbitant amount of money we were expected to pay to live on our own.”
Ms Brett is one of a growing group of people across the country who feel priced out by the housing market and are choosing to live in caravans.
At the last census in 2021, approximately 104,000 households lived in an RV or mobile home; this figure was 19,000 more than a decade ago. Cities such as Bristol have seen a significant increase in the number of “sit-in vehicles”, including vans and caravans, causing tension in the local community.
There is a perception among some that this provides an inexpensive living, but Mr Brett, who works more than 20 hours a week as a cleaner, said this was a myth.
“I still have to pay bills,” he said. “My car insurance is £140, I have money to pay back my loan which is £400 a month and then I need to buy food, a week’s shopping costs almost £100 and that’s just for sandwiches and dinner.
“I had to cut back on some parts of life and try to make extra money through crafts and meditation classes.”
The Labor government’s response to the housing crisis has been to build more homes, with a target of 1.5 million new homes by the end of the current five-year period.
But the current shortage of social housing means there are a record 1.3 million households on council waiting lists. with analysis Official figures from the National Housing Federation show it will take more than 100 years to clear listings in three local authority areas; Westminster, Enfield and Merton.
Part of Ms. Brett’s problem was finding a well-paying job.
He said he was highly qualified and had a wealth of experience working in care homes, particularly during the Covid pandemic. But he said there were no “hard, demanding” jobs that offered good pay.
“There are a lot of jobs that are specialized but always on minimum wage or no contract that pay much more,” he said.
“I am very qualified, I have 27 qualifications, there are certificates that come from word of mouth, but they are [employers] They don’t pay me for my skills, they just pay me what they want and I think that’s wrong.
“This means we will forever be in a situation where people like me are chasing the cost of living, from renting a house to doing the weekly groceries.”
Ms Brett said an increase in the National Living Wage to £12.21 this year had helped her, but called on the government to provide more support for minimum wage earners ahead of this month’s Budget.
“A lot of people feel frustrated,” he said. “We all want a greater share of the wealth, but what we see is that, just like during Covid, those who try so hard to help others get nothing in return.”
As for the future, although she wants to be heard, Ms Brett is pessimistic that she will see improvement.
He added: “They [politicians] Stand there and say we’re going to make it better for people, we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that. And they don’t. “They let us down every time.”
