Scousers speak out about country's 'heartbreaking' housing crisis

Andrew Spence

26 June 2024 at 6:55 am·2-min read

People in Liverpool have spoken of the heartbreaking reality of the housing crisis across the country.

With the idea of owning a home being a distant dream for many people, just weeks before the general election, we went around the Baltic Triangle and Liverpool city centre to see how people think the country's housing crisis could be fixed.

There are many symptoms of the UK’s housing crisis that are visible across Liverpool, from increased homelessness to soaring rent prices. Richard Leighton was among the people who spoke to the ECHO about the situation. The 40-year-old has seen first hand the impact of homelessness in the city, having worked to help house those living on the streets.

Richard told the ECHO: “It’s really simple and easy to solve the housing crisis in the UK but whatever political party you support, they just don’t necessarily seem to do that. The only way we’re going to solve the housing crisis is not via government and local authorities, it’s about private citizens like myself, actually getting out there creating solutions ourselves.

“Please don’t wait for government and local authorities to make the world a better place because unfortunately from personal experience you’ll be waiting forever”.

In contrast to Richard, Leo Gould from Ellesmere Port was far more pessimistic. The 40-year-old said: “There's going to be no solutions in terms of housing.”

Many people cited the troubles young people face in buying homes. One woman said: “It’s heart-breaking” to see young people being unable to get on the housing ladder.”

A man visiting Liverpool from Newcastle told us: “We need to build more social housing and increase the capability of people to buy homes.”

One man told us that mortgages should be available with little up-front deposits as it can be “a lot of money to fork out.”

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