An Islington councillor is facing a housing crisis of his own as he tries to move up the housing ladder.
Olly Parker, a Labour councillor in Mildmay, is struggling to buy a house big enough for his family. His one-bedroom flat, which is shared ownership, has now risen in value to £500,000.
He said: “I’m one of the lucky ones and I can’t afford to stay here, housing is the biggest problem in the capital.
“I’m currently trying to sell my flat, because I’ve just got married, and we’ve got a cat. We want a two bedroom house with a garden, it’s not too much to ask.”
He argues that it is not just shocking house prices, but rising rents that price ordinary people out of the area. “Mildmay has historically been quite a working class area. But in the last six or seven years, the area’s just exploded. People just cannot afford to rent a house.”
Mr Parker, who works full time for the National Autistic Society in Angel, receives cries for help from local residents every week who can’t afford to pay the bills.
“Generations of my family have lived in Islington, and they’re just slowly getting priced out. If you were to look at the social housing list, there’s 10,000 people on the waiting list for social housing across Islington as a whole.”
Rising rents are spiralling out of control, he suggests. “Every time I move in Mildmay, the people that move in after me end up paying £200 pound more on average. It’s jumping £200 every year. How can a university student, or someone just trying to get by as a barman or something, or someone just working a normal job possibly afford that?”
Mark Notari, from Square Quarters Letting Agents, said: “Prices are rising because people see their house as more of an investment and not necessarily a place to live in.
“People are investing a lot in London. It means London is an attractive city.”
