One in ten parents 'missing meals' to pay housing costs

Almost 900,000 working parents in England have skipped meals in the last year in order to pay their rent or mortgage, new research claims.

A study by housing charity Shelter found more than one third (37%) of working parents were generally cutting back on buying food in a bid to help pay their rent or mortgage, equating to three million parents across England as a whole.

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Government: Housing most affordable since 2007

Home ownership is at its most affordable since 2007, the government has claimed.

Responding to research from Shelter indicating many families are cutting back on food to cover housing costs, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said repossessions were currently at their lowest since 2007 and down almost a third since last year.

He added that record low interest rates had made owning a home more affordable, while adding that "private rent levels are falling in real times".

On top of this, we've got Britain building, with nearly half a million new homes delivered since 2010, including nearly 200,000 affordable homes, and almost 40,000 new home owners have been created through the Help to Buy schemes.

– Brandon Lewis, Housing Minister

One in ten parents 'missing meals to pay housing costs'

Nearly 900,000 working parents are skipping meals to help pay for the cost of housing, new research claims.

More than a third of parents are generally cutting back on food to cover the cost of housing, the survey claims. Credit: Rui Vieira/PA Wire

A study from housing charity Shelter found 10.5% of adults with children said they or their partner had avoided a meal to save money for their rent or mortgage.

According to the survey, more than one third (37%) of working parents were generally cutting back on buying food , equating to three million parents across England as a whole.

Some 13% of working parents surveyed, equating to 1.1 million parents across England, said they had put off buying their children new shoes, while 10%, or around 820,000 parents across the country, delayed buying their children a new school uniform in the last year so that they could pay their rent or mortgage.

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