Responding to the housing debate at Usdaw’s Annual Delegate Meeting in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary said: “The price of a house is now on average eight times more than the annual wage. So it's no surprise home ownership has fallen in recent years. Deposits have become too expensive for many first-time buyers. It is more difficult to save money for a deposit
and with the lack of social housing people have become trapped in an overpriced and poor quality private rental sector. Many people are having to spend too much of their income on just having a roof over their head, with little money left for bills and shopping.
 
“The Government has pledged to build 300,000 homes every year by the mid-2020s, but the majority of the Government's housing budget is skewed towards expensive private housing. Only 21 percent goes towards affordable housing and when the Government says affordable, they are not truly affordable to people on low incomes. When they do build houses these are often not the right kind of houses, in the right areas.
 
“Usdaw is calling on the Government to rebalance their housing budget and priorities to build more affordable homes that normal working people can afford.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with over 420,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
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