Steve a thought has occured to me that part of the problem is the over inflated cost of accomadation this may be brought about by the very benifit system you refer to
If people can buy investment property and get there rents paid by the rest of us via housing benifit this will as a by product raise the price of renting thus fuelling the cycle if the public purse only payed rents up to the cost of public housing we might all be better off
No family can survive on a single basic wage earner and rent or buy a house anymore so what is the incentive? Economic fiddling has brought this about in my view
You can build a 3 bed house for about 60,000 but the land and planning adds another 100,000 affordable housing is a basic right we have ignored since thatcher and we are paying the price now with the next generation unable to afford to leave home
When i was a youngster my rent was a quarter to a third of my income same youngsters today more like 50-65%
