Jonathan Taylor was pleased by his first peek at a sparkling new studio apartment that could one day become his home. The 24-year-old from Exeter has been living in YMCA accommodation since he was 19 but, as he viewed freshly painted white walls, the reality of a more settled home dawned.
“If I lived in this place I’d feel more important,” he said. “I’d feel I’ve landed on my feet.”
Taylor, who juggles cleaning jobs at a builders’ merchant and a pub, is a victim of what many fear is a deepening housing crisis in the Devon cathedral city fuelled by surging house prices, the spread of short-term Airbnb lets and rising social waiting lists.
It means the chance to rent a decent, affordable home like the one Taylor is viewing is vanishingly rare.
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