大象传媒

There is huge pressure in the rental market. Yesterday, the Bank of England voted to keep interest rates at their highest level for 15 years. High interest rates mean high mortgage payments. And since many landlords have mortgages, that means higher rents for tenants.

The Financial Times has crunched the data and found this is hitting women hardest. In large parts of southern England, there are almost no one-bedroom lets that the average woman could afford. Single mothers are being forced to relocate away from friends and family.

So why are women more affected and what can be done about it?

To discuss this, Anita Rani was joined on Woman鈥檚 Hour by Amy Borrett, a Data Journalist at the Financial Times, and Victoria Benson, CEO of Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families.

A Government spokesperson said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e helping to ease the pressure of rising rents, investing over 拢30 billion on housing support this year on top of record financial support worth around 拢3,300 per household.

鈥淲e鈥檝e also maintained our 拢1billion boost to Local Housing Allowance while our Discretionary Housing payments provide a safety net for anyone struggling.鈥�

You can listen to the full discussion on 大象传媒 Sounds - it鈥檚 the Woman鈥檚 Hour episode from 3 November.

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