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People 'living in vans because of high rents and bad properties' - claim

A postgraduate’s study of people who live in cars and vans on Bristol’s streets says they make the choice to do so, in part, because of rising rents.

Ruth McAllister - the postgraduate student at the University of the West of England and a worker at a lettings agents rating website -  studied the so-called van dwellers in Bristol during 2018.

Now she claims that ‘urban vehicle dwelling’ is growing because housing has become unaffordable to many.

McAllister claims rents in Bristol had “skyrocketed” and that, along with “a mix of poor quality private rented accommodation, insecure short-term leases, inaccessible social housing and a rental market that they believed favoured unresponsive landlords over tenants” led them to self-provide their own housing by living in a van.

McAllister, who interviewed 13 van dwellers, says Bristol council is one of the first local authorities in the UK to develop a strategy for lived-in vehicles on roads. She says it has proposed that lived-in vehicles will be assessed taking welfare needs into account. 

  

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    Will the council provide a site where these vans can be parked and include toilet facilities and help the vans move on when the vehicles are unable to move under their own power? They did this in Derbyshire to a family of travellers so why not all others living in vans?

  • S l
    • S l
    • 22 March 2019 12:14 PM

    This just show that the MPs and councils targeting the prs with high unnecessary costs is not the answers. They had created the high cost rental due to their intervention. What they need to do is provide affordable housing , long term ie buy their own house, not rental. provide more jobs, higher salary to tally with the rise of cost of living.

  • PossessionFriendUK PossessionFriend

    Really in depth study then - 13 vans !!!!

    She's find out a hell of lot more if she interviewed 13 Landlords !

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