London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

The 59-year-old woman who lives in a van

The 59-year-old woman who lives in a van

"I don't want to live like this, no-one should live like this - but I don't have any options," says Polly Richardson who finds herself at the sharp end of the lack of affordable homes in England.

For more than a year, she has lived out of a small camper van.

"This is my home. I've two sets of clothes in a box. I've got my cups and saucers in this drawer, my pans under this bed, and I have a little camping cooker.

"Winter time was horrendous because there was no heating."

The 59-year-old grandmother of four from east Yorkshire, is one of half-a-million households that aren't even counted as waiting for a council or housing association property, according to the National Housing Federation.

New research commissioned by the Federation from Herriot Watt University says the real number of people in England waiting for such homes is 3.8 million, representing 1.6 million households, or 500,000 more than is indicated by official government data.

"I've got belongings in people's garages," says Polly.

She spent years working as a retail manager but after taking time off to look after her sick father, and then having a big argument with her sister, she found herself being forced to move into the van in March 2019.

"Without a job, you can't have a house. Without a house, they won't give you a job. I'm hoping somebody out there will give me a job," she says.

The National Housing Federation say 90,000 homes for social rent need to be built each year for the next decade to meet demand but, according to official figures, just 6,338 such homes were completed in 2018-19, down 84% since 2010-11.



The main advantage of social housing - where either the local council or a housing association are the landlord - is that it's more affordable than private rented accommodation, typically around 50% of market rents, and usually offers a more secure tenancy.

"What we are seeing is an escalating need for social housing and a lack of supply," says Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation.

"Investing in social housing would boost the economy, it would create thousands of jobs, it would support supply chains in the construction industry and it would provide better, more secure, safe housing for people in need."

The lack of suitable properties leaves large numbers of families living in overcrowded accommodation.

Abigail McManus, a 27-year-old single mother lives in a two-bedroom flat in Leeds with her three young children - two daughters aged six and two and a little boy who's five months' old.

Leaving her house is a daily grind as she struggles to manoeuvre her double buggy down the stairs.

Abigail has been bidding weekly for a three-bedroomed ground floor property for years, without success.

She says the council are encouraging her to search further afield to increase her chances being allocated somewhere suitable to live.

But she says: "My whole family live on this estate, so I'd like to try and stay as close as possible.

"As a single parent, who doesn't drive, it would be hard for me to get anywhere and I'd feel more isolated than I already do, if I move too far from this area."


Mum of three Abigail McManus struggles to get her double buggy into her flat


When she was prime minister, Theresa May altered the way in which councils could use funding to allow them to build more homes.

Her government predicted the change would lead to 10,000 new council houses each year, a figure that hasn't been reached since 2013-14.

While local authorities believe building that number is possible, experts say the pandemic could create problems in the construction industry.

The Ministry of Housing said it "didn't recognise" the figures in the new analysis carried out by the National Housing Federation, describing them as a "major overestimation".

It also highlighted its £11.5bn investment in affordable homes, to be spent between 2021 and 2026, some of which will be used on building homes for social rent.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×