Rents and house prices keep going up in York. But what does this mean for people living in the city? In the first of a series, York’s Property Crisis, Roy Horobin spoke to mental health counsellor Liz
Liz knows how she feels about York: “I adore the place.”
“It feels bohemian without feeling clichéd, and it feels welcoming and accepting,” she enthuses. And she loves the fabric of the city with “beautiful historical buildings” where “you feel the history around you.”
There is just one problem, and it’s a big one.
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Liz lives just off Blossom Street and is willing to pay more for the location because she is “psychologically and physically healthier” here than where she used to live in the West Midlands.
Or, as Liz puts it: “coming from an absolute dive”, she can see what is good about York.
Her partner, James, 30, works in hospitality and also hails from the West Midlands. The impact on him has been even more positive as he used to be “really miserable at work, and where he lived”.
Liz and James are young, happy, love where they live and are content at work.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is that all of this comes at a price. They pay £700 a month for a tiny flat with a “living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen” and she also pays extra for car parking.
Liz, 29, doesn’t expect to have things handed to her, but back in the West Midlands a friend of hers has a nice two-bedroom house for £400.
And if they want to buy a similar house in York together, they will have to double their income.
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Liz’s friends are have similar stories. Recently she met a friend in Rowntree Park who, despite working, told Liz she “couldn’t afford to buy a sandwich” because so much of her money was going on rent and bills.
She did consider other properties near Micklegate, but one “didn’t feel safe”, and the other was so small that you would have to “constantly move the other person about”. Not to mention “the mess, the smell, the windows were rotten, and it was several stories up”.
Her landlord, she says, is lovely. But she worries that he may sell up at some point, and they will lose the life they love.
And this has wider implications for York. Liz recently completed an MSc and works as a counsellor. With mental health such a key issue, and hospitality a vital sector, can York afford to lose people like Liz and James?
So what’s the solution? Liz says there should be a cap on rent prices and a cap on council tax, with means-tested support.
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