News / Society
Easton houses: homes or goldmines?
An entire Easton house has been spray painted gold and adorned with photocopied £20 notes and giant coins in a poignant protest that “houses are home and not gold mines”.
Homeowner Liz Beth, 60, is demonstrating her disapproval of rising house prices, lack of affordable housing and an insecure private rental market – even though her own property’s value has increased by more than £100,000 in three years.
is needed now More than ever
According to recent research, house prices in BS5 (Easton, Redfield and St George) rose by 24.5 per cent to an average of £183,000 between December 2014 and November 2015, but remain below the national average property price of £200,000.
Back in December, Bristol24/7 revealed that two-thirds of large developments approved by the city council fall short of the authority’s own affordable housing targets. Further data from the council also shows that a quarter of all the major developments in the last five years were approved with no affordable housing at all.
The problems don’t stop there with soaring house prices seemingly adding to the ever-growing waiting list for social housing. A Freedom of Information request sent to Bristol City Council revealed that nearly 10,000 people are on the waiting list for a council home with only 41 apartments currently available.
Beth believes many are being priced out of purchasing homes in the Easton area, forcing them to seek alternatives. She also suggests that if she was looking to buy a home in her current circumstances, she “wouldn’t be able to buy a property in Easton now”.
According to the home-owner, her property cost about £140,000 when first purchased in 2013, and is now worth around £250,000. With price rises of this scale, Beth believes nothing is being done to help people at the bottom of the housing ladder.
“We hear a lot about ‘starter homes’ for people able to buy, but subsidising starter homes will result in even less affordable rented homes being built. I want the government to use my taxes to help those who aren’t able to buy a home, not make things even worse for them.”