Population on the move

Published: 19 May, 2011

• READERS may be interested to know that Camden Council has been doing its sums, and concludes that now more private tenants live in the borough than council tenants.

Council tenant households have remained fairly static at 26 per cent since the 2001 Census, but now private tenant households make up somewhere between 27 and 35 per cent of Camden’s households.

With the growth of the private rented sector across London in the last 10 years, we at Camden Federation of Private Tenants suspect the figure to be nearer 35 per cent than 27 per cent. Given the lack of new and affordable homes this figure is likely further to increase in the coming years, meaning that in the future more private tenants than ever will be living in the borough.

What does this mean for Camden? 

Worryingly research we conducted in 2004 shows a clear correlation between people who live in short-term housing (private tenancies are typically between six and 12 months) and a lack of engagement in community life. We found private tenants are less likely to know about council services; less likely to sign up with a doctor or dentist; less likely to register to vote and to know who their MP is or who their councillors are.

Simply, this means there is a large percentage of Camden’s population who are marginalised and forever on the move. If the predictions are right this annual shift in population will be even larger in 2012 when the 2,200 people currently receiving Local Housing Allowance find out that their housing benefit will no longer cover their rent and they, and their families, will be faced with some stark choices.

We will do everything we can to help and support the borough’s private tenants but unless the government starts to realise that all is not well with the private rented sector it will further undermine any attempt to create settled, long-term and economically mixed communities in Camden, London and the rest of the country.

SARAH MITCHELL
Chair, Camden Federation of Private Tenants, NW1