Rent ‘should be lowered for women in London to close the gender housing gap’

  • london
  • March 2, 2023
  • Comments Off on Rent ‘should be lowered for women in London to close the gender housing gap’
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Sadiq Khan has been urged to offer reduced rent to women in London due to the gender pay gap.

Renting across the capital is already costly, with prices showing no sign of reducing. 

A new report, titled ‘Women and housing: a gap in the market’, has asked the mayor to now consider what can be done to close the gender housing gap in London.

It notes ’women face the double penalty of earning less but often needing more from their housing’, and makes recommendations to both City Hall and the government. 

This includes asking the mayor of London to consider making rents lower for women due to the wage gap

The report from City Hall’s cross-party housing committee confirms women in London earn significantly less than men.

Committee chair Sem Moema said this means some women have been hit harder by increasing rents. 

The Labour assembly member noted the report provided opportunities to ‘begin to level the playing field for women’.

The report suggests Mr Khan consider making London Living Rent homes available to women to rent based on women’s median incomes, rather than across everyone, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

London Living Rent helps Londoners who want to build up savings to buy a home, by providing high quality rented homes on stable tenancies, with rents based on a third of local household incomes.

Money saved on rent can go towards a deposit for your own home.

It found women earning the median wage need to spend 63% of earnings to afford median private rent, compared to men spending around 49%.

Ms Moema added: ‘We firmly believe that if the mayor takes the appropriate steps, through our recommendations, there could be a significant improvement in women having the opportunity to rent or own their own home in London.’

The report also recommends Mr Khan work with local authorities, charities and housing associations to increase the provision of women-only accommodation that is of high quality.

This is ‘particularly for women who have experienced domestic abuse, homelessness, are leaving prison, or who otherwise need specialist support’.

A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: ‘Sadiq welcomes the committee’s work on this important subject and will be considering their recommendations as part of his work to build a better London for everyone.’

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