The credit crunch started back in August 2007 and was followed by the emergence of toxic debts and the subsequent collapse of banks big and small. We are told that we dipped into recession (two consecutive quarter falls in GDP) and then came out of it. But it's all relative - to quote a US president, "It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours."

At Herefordshire Housing our customers are normally those who cannot afford to buy, so what's the impact on them?

It's not obvious. I can see that our rent arrears have not gone up (now down to 1.95%), our tenants are not leaving because they can't afford the rent (number of lettings the same and no extra abandonments - about 6 per year), and we are still housing the same number of homeless families (about 50%).

But this is superficial. We know these are measures of the organisation, not the experiences of our customers and in any event, the change in housing is deep-seated and longer term. The headline figures do not show the real pressures on families.

When I dig deeper all sorts of submerged information surfaces. In Herefordshire,

• The number of new rented homes built has fallen by 31% since 2008/2009¹.
• Unemployment in the year increased by 9% with the largest increase for the young, under 25².
• In the urban areas, private sector rents have gone up by 10-20% in the last 18 months³.
• Of those who want a home, a quarter are under 25 years old, nearly half are under 35⁴.
• For our new lettings, the numbers on partial benefits has increased dramatically suggesting that people are increasingly in low paid or part time work.

The signs are there. If you are young, affording a private rent is getting more difficult. And the chances of renting in the social housing sector are receding. By the end of 2012, the housing benefit cuts targeted at the young will be in place.

We need to do more and over the coming months, we'll be thinking hard about how we can support young people - if you've got any ideas, email me on pbrown@hhl.org.uk

Appears in Young people