According to a poll of 1,476 renters by SpareRoom, the ongoing housing crisis (85%) tops the list of key priorities to be addressed by the current/incoming government. The issue scored higher than the cost of living (78%), NHS waiting times (64%), inflation (52%), climate change (39%), immigration (36%) and crime (34%). 

With over a third of the UK’s households currently renting, these findings ring alarm bells with a general election due in the next 12-months.

The poll also revealed what renters want to see help to relieve the housing crisis, led by the introduction of rent caps (64%). This action was followed by getting people into empty properties (63%), prioritising residential supply over second homes (61%), building more housing (57%) and adding an additional tax on homes that are empty for more than six months (53%).

Since 2010, there has been 16 housing ministers, spending an average of 11 months in the hotseat – equivalent to 334 days. Meanwhile, the average job span for current Premier League managers, another role seen as precarious and unstable, is twice as long at 668 days.

With such a ministerial merry-go-round, it’s no wonder that only 16% said they knew who the current Housing Minister was.