Frome woman forced to live in van amid local housing crisis
A young woman from Frome says she is living in a van because she cannot afford to rent in her hometown.
Summer Auty is an artist and works part-time at a local art gallery. She used the last of her student loan to buy the van, which she's named Roxanne.
The 24-year-old said: "I'm currently living in my van near Frome because I can't afford to rent or buy and I need to stay local for my work.
"I've been here for over 20 years and it's a struggle to not be able to afford to live here. I was studying in London but due to Covid I came back to Frome and luckily I had enough money left over to buy this van.
"I would love to live in a small house, I'm not looking for anything big, and the last thing I want is for them to build more homes on our green spaces."
"It's hard to find anywhere to live in the UK at the moment. I'd love to do a masters in London but I can't take my van to London or afford to rent there."
The young artist has an exhibition coming up in September but without a studio space, it's been hard for her to prepare.
Summer's experience comes amid the ongoing housing shortage in Frome. At a meeting last week, the town council declared a housing crisis, pushing it to the top of their agenda.
There are 600 households currently on the social housing list and only 49 homes have become available in the last six months.
As a result, prospective tenants can enter bidding wars for the few properties available and renters from areas where wages are higher can have an advantage.
Councillor Polly Lamb said: “There are a number of factors that have led us to where we are today. Following years of underfunding by central government, we have a housing crisis in the UK.
"There is simply not enough good safe and secure housing in the rental market. The right to buy has destabilised the housing market, taking housing out of the social housing stock, meaning that more people enter the private rental market which in turn has pushed up prices.
"Using houses as commodities rather than homes for the last 40 years has had a devastating effect on safe and secure housing in Frome.
"We need to represent our local population by both pressing hard for change, supporting where we can and making sure the issues stay high on our agenda.”
She added that the average rental cost was now £1,499 a month, which is 50% of the average salary.
"This makes it unaffordable for a lot of people, and prices many of Frome’s young people out of Frome," she said.
The Town Council said it would commit to working with Frome Area Community Land Trust (FACLT), to find land and help them muster support.
It said: "A community land trust is the only mechanism through which social housing can be kept as social rentals in perpetuity.
"We can also work with the housing authority Somerset Council and lobby the government to support a policy of developers bringing forward 40% affordable and social rental homes.
"We can work with the housing authority to review holiday lets by checking permissions are in place and work with developers and others to ensure that in the first instance, they market the affordable homes to people who are already in Frome.
"Ultimately, there is a lot then we can explore, and by declaring a Housing Crisis we can keep the issue high on the agenda and try and bring about positive change.”