Across the United Kingdom, the cost and security of renting a home have become flashpoints in an escalating housing crisis, with new research and personal stories revealing the profound impact on families and individuals from England to Scotland. As rents surge and homelessness figures climb, questions are mounting about whether proposed legislative reforms and government action can bring meaningful relief—or if, for many, the crisis is only deepening.
According to a recent analysis by Go.Compare Home Insurance, tenants in Broxbourne and Camden have experienced the steepest proportional rent increases in England since the Renters’ Rights Bill was introduced to Parliament in September 2024. Over the past year, average rents in both areas jumped by 12.2%, translating to a staggering £178 more per month for Broxbourne tenants and £306 more for those in Camden. Other hotspots for sharp rises included Slough (11.9%), Gloucester (9.8%), Newcastle upon Tyne (9.5%), and Barking and Dagenham (9.4%). In stark contrast, Brent in London saw the largest fall in rents, down 3.7%, saving tenants an average of £79 per month.
Across England, the average rent has climbed by 4.3% since September 2024, adding £58 to the typical monthly bill. The North-East recorded the highest regional growth at 6.7%, while Yorkshire and the Humber saw the lowest at 2.6%. Nathan Blackler, a home insurance expert at Go.Compare, noted, “These latest figures indicate that the Renters’ Rights Bill could have had an unwanted side effect for tenants, more of whom seem to be dealing with rent rises since the announcement.” He cautioned renters to be vigilant about potential cost increases ahead of the bill’s implementation, expected in late 2025 or early 2026, and reminded them of their rights: “If you do experience a rent rise, remember that your landlord must follow certain rules before doing so, like those outlined in your contract, and you can challenge the rise if these haven’t been adhered to.”
The Renters’ Rights Bill is poised to abolish no-fault evictions and give tenants the right to challenge above-market rent hikes. Yet, the data suggests that some landlords may be raising rents preemptively, possibly to lock in higher rates before the new protections take effect. This legislative uncertainty is playing out against a backdrop of real hardship for many renters, as the affordability gap widens.
For thousands, the rent crisis is not just a matter of higher bills but of losing their homes altogether. Research from the housing charity Shelter shows that in 2024/25, 124,210 families in England faced homelessness—one in every 57 families. Of these, 70,630 were single-parent households, or about one in every 24 families. The number of families assessed by local councils as homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness has jumped by 10% compared to five years ago, underscoring the growing scale of the emergency.
Personal stories put a human face on these statistics. Angela Carruthers, a single mother of three from Birmingham, has been homeless for two years after her landlord decided to sell the home where she’d lived for 12 years. Forced to move three times, Angela and her children initially found themselves in a hotel arranged by the local council—one that lacked electricity and hot water for five days. “You can imagine someone coming to your house on the day you’re going to be evicted and not knowing where you’re going to go,” Angela told The Independent. “We’re all just in hysterics because we’d lived there for so long and the kids had their friends round there, their school, work was down the school—it was perfect. And all of it got ripped away from us in the space of a couple of hours.”
Angela’s ordeal is far from unique. She recently faced eviction again but managed to remain in her current temporary accommodation with Shelter’s help. Still, she longs for the security of permanent social housing. “I’ve got no control over anything in my life or in my children’s lives,” she said. “It’s just like they’re playing god with people. They’ve split up my family, stopped my kids from progressing.”
Shelter’s policy officer Jenny Lamb described the situation bluntly: “We are in the middle of a housing emergency that we have been in the middle of for a long time now, and it is impacting millions of people. We’re hearing horrific stories of people finding themselves at the sharp end of the housing emergency. Families spending sleepless nights anxious about losing their homes, having to move away from their work, their communities, their children’s schools.” Lamb pointed to a “system that is failing people at every turn,” citing record-high private rents, a severe lack of genuinely affordable social housing, and frozen housing benefits that make private renting unaffordable for many.
In response, Shelter has called on the government to build 900,000 social homes over the next decade—far above the current pledge of 300,000—and to unfreeze local housing allowances so that benefits keep pace with soaring rents. Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced plans to build 300,000 new affordable homes, including 180,000 social homes, in the next ten years. But campaigners say this still falls far short of what’s needed to stem the tide of homelessness.
Scotland is grappling with its own acute version of the crisis. In Govanhill, Glasgow, community worker Elle Glenny saw their rent jump from £590 to £700 per month—a nearly 20% increase—after receiving an eviction notice. “I’m now paying up to 50% of my income every single month just to live,” Elle told the BBC. “The impact of the rent increase alone has been catastrophic. I’m cutting back on essentials, which is making my life feel really unliveable and uncomfortable.” Despite being a “perfect tenant,” Elle is fighting eviction at a tribunal and has languished on social housing waiting lists for nearly three years. “That does give me more points in the social housing system, but unfortunately not enough to prevent me from having to go through the homelessness system.”
The Scottish government declared a national housing emergency in May 2024, and on September 2, 2025, Housing Minister Màiri McAllan announced a £4.9 billion investment in affordable homes over the next four years. Research commissioned by Shelter Scotland and other organizations estimates that Scotland needs to build at least 15,690 new affordable homes per year—a 50% increase since 2020, with a cost of £1.64 billion annually. There are now more than 99,000 households on the social housing waiting list in Scotland, and homelessness has reached record highs, with over 31,000 cases in 2024 and more than 16,000 households—including 10,000 children—living in temporary accommodation.
Private rents in Scotland have climbed steadily, with the average monthly rent now £999, up from £673 in July 2015. City centers are particularly hard hit: Glasgow saw a 44.4% jump in average rents over the past four years, while Edinburgh’s rose by 41.3%. Rent controls introduced during the pandemic ended in April 2025, but longer-term controls—limiting increases to 6% in designated zones—are not expected until 2027. Tenant advocacy groups have criticized the current rent adjudication system as “deeply flawed,” noting that in 24% of cases, adjudication actually resulted in higher rents than landlords initially proposed.
While governments in both England and Scotland have announced ambitious targets and funding for affordable housing, campaigners, tenants, and experts warn that without a dramatic acceleration of social housing construction and more robust tenant protections, the crisis will persist. As Shelter Scotland’s Alison Wilson put it, “We face a simple choice—invest in the homes we need now, or pay the price for generations.”
For renters like Angela and Elle, the hope is that policymakers heed these warnings before more families are forced into a cycle of instability and loss.
