I've been priced out of living in London – it shouldn't take extraordinary luck just to live here

I never thought I’d be priced out of London, the city I was born and raised in, but that’s exactly what happened. My story isn’t unique. The housing crisis has left thousands of Londoners, just like me, facing the same impossible choice every day. The difference is, I was lucky enough to find my way back. 

At 19, a breakdown at home meant I suddenly needed to find somewhere else to live. I had a stable job in finance, earning what most people would see as a decent salary. Yet even a modest one-bedroom flat near Clapham Junction, my childhood home, was completely out of reach. No guarantor, impossible deposits. London was simply unaffordable. 

I ended up in Essex, renting a small flat for £580 a month, now unimaginable unless you’re fortunate enough to win the social housing lottery. Moving away meant losing vital connections with family and friends and forced me into long costly commutes to work every day. I felt pushed out, as if the city I loved was no longer meant for me. 

After five years in Essex, I moved to Gravesend and spent a few months in a hostel, juggling part-time work, study and a career change. With support from New Horizon Youth Centre and Clarence Estates, I secured a subsidised studio flat in Hackney. But even then, the property was a temporary solution; while offering stability, it wasn’t suitable for a young man living alone and preparing for a more independent co-parenting arrangement with twin boys. 

Along the way, I had to learn how housing systems worked just to survive. I became my own advocate, even earning two qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Housing to better navigate a system meant to offer basic stability. That knowledge is now vital in my freelance youth work, supporting young people facing housing insecurity. I’ve also worked with care leavers in residential settings, helping them build the skills needed for independence. 

I’ve long since left the finance world, and now work in the voluntary sector, supporting families within a hospital setting by providing them with temporary accommodation while their children receive treatment. Despite finally finding stable housing through key-worker status in an A2Dominion Housing Association property, I continue to balance various roles, simply to make ends meet. My reality isn’t uncommon. Many Londoners I speak to, especially young people, share this constant anxiety around housing and financial insecurity. 

Research from City Hall shows the stark reality: young Londoners aged 25 to 29 on lower incomes spend up to 77% of their earnings on housing, while nearly a quarter live in poverty. The impact of this goes much deeper than simply living standards. Schools across the city struggle to recruit teachers, hospitals can’t retain nurses, and essential public services are increasingly short-staffed. 

Consider a nurse in London on an average salary of £35,000. Without access to a social or affordable home, they’d need to earn over £76,000 to afford the average private rent in the capital. Two nurses sharing expenses would be unable to afford market rents in 14 of London’s 32 boroughs. 

Thankfully, it appears as if there might be light at the end of the tunnel, as the government has pledged to build 1.5 million new homes nationwide, including an initial £2 billion investment into social and affordable housing. This commitment is long overdue and desperately needed. But it must be just the start. These homes must be genuinely affordable, accessible, and specifically targeted at those who keep our city functioning, the key workers without whom London cannot survive. 

As a member of the G15 Residents’ Group, a forum of residents from London’s leading housing associations, I see the impact genuinely affordable housing can have. It’s about much more than bricks and mortar. It’s about stability, community, and hope. But I also see how housing associations need government support if they’re to continue meeting the needs of Londoners like me. 

It shouldn’t take extraordinary luck, determination, or specialist knowledge to simply live securely in the city you grew up in. London’s future depends on people being able to afford homes here. If we don’t address this crisis now, we won’t just lose the nurses, teachers, and social workers who hold our communities together, we risk losing the very heart and soul of the city itself. 

David Kingsley is a member of the G15 Residents’ Group

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