Shockingly high rent at Exeter Labour's discounted co-living

Rent upwards of £1k a month at The Gorge co-living!

We've said it before and we'll say it again: 'co-living' is just unaffordable student accomodation in another name.

Renting eligibility criteria include an income of over 2.5x the rent, so well above the average Exeter salary.

No way is this an affordable option for young people in the city, or really helps with the spiralling rental crisis.

Exeter Labour say they are committed to providing affordable housing, and even promised to "aim for 35% social and affordable housing on all new private housing developments" back in 2015. They've had a supermajority on the council since then. So what are they waiting for?

20% are 'affordable'. But here it is just 80% of the market rate, so you'd still need an average Exeter salary!

The Labour-run City Council have a few tools at their disposal to manage housing in Exeter. These are used poorly. For example, they actually give a big discount for developers to build 'co-living'. Yet we're still waiting for clear policy standards to define 'co-living'.

Not exactly the affordable homes locals have been demanding the past decade!

Read more in Exeter Observer.