Nearly Half of UK Families Cut Back On Food to Afford Rent

It's not huge news that housing prices in the UK are rising. In July, year-on-year house prices were found to have increased dramatically, and just last week, figures showed that the average cost of rent was also up.

And now, a new report from YouGov and housing charity Shelter has revealed that nearly half of UK families are cutting back on essentials like food in order to afford housing costs.

The survey of 1,581 working adults with children under 18 (weighted to be representative of 3.7 million UK families) said that "they had cut back on food and/or clothes in order to pay their rent or mortgage." It also found that 9 percent of parents had skipped meals to save money.

Shelter's findings come not long after food bank charity the Trussell Trust reported that 1.5 million parents would skip meals to feed their children during school holidays. Adrian Curtis, food bank network director at the charity, told MUNCHIES in a press statement that housing costs and rent arrears were serious concerns for the food bank network.

He said: "When parents are hit by something unexpected like illness or a broken boiler, housing costs can be a big factor in causing people already on a financial knife edge to run out of money and need help from a food bank."

With housing costs and food bank use both at record high in the UK, the latter could soon hit breaking point.