Your say / Van Dwellers
‘With the cost of living increasing, will van dwelling become a more common way of life?’
Bristol is one of the most expensive cities to live in outside of London, studies have said, but is it becoming an unaffordable city?
Bristol has had a 2.7 per cent increase in house prices compared to May 2024.
As a student who lived in Bristol, I saw the rent increase every year until I had to move.
is needed now More than ever
In my first year at university, I paid £400pm compared to my just short of £700pm excluding bills in my fourth year, which I wouldn’t have been able to pay without student loans.
This increase ultimately led to me having to move out of Bristol, a city I love.
London is known for being the most expensive place to live in the UK, with an average rent of £2,712 pm.
Living comfortably often requires a higher income. The London Living Wage, currently £13.15 per hour, is designed to reflect the city’s high cost of living – why aren’t people living in Bristol getting similar considerations?
The prices of rent in Bristol are getting out of hand and making Bristol unaffordable to live in unless you have disposable money and can afford extortionate prices.
Student rent in Bristol is increasing by 12.9 per cent every year, but it’s not just the students. There’s been a 3.1 per cent increase in rent from September 2024.
How can landlords be getting away with putting the house prices up by such a significant amount each year?
In my experience with landlords over the years, at the end of each tenancy you will get an offer to stay in the property, which is usually followed by an increase in rent.
In the properties I have lived in, I paid rent excluding bills so what grounds do landlords have to put the rent up by £100, £200, £300 every year?
The new Renters Rights Bill, expected to come into force towards the end of 2025, aims to give tenants more protection and make renting fairer. It will stop landlords from using “no-fault” evictions and require all private tenancies to be open-ended rather than fixed-term.
There has been some conflict in Clifton, one of Bristol’s most expensive areas, regarding van dwellers on the Downs.
Some van dwellers are there due to the increasingly expensive cost of living in Bristol.
The BBC interviewed a van dweller named Callum, who has been living on the Downs for nine months. He explained that he has nowhere else to go after a house share with his friends ended, and said he didn’t have the money to pay for a new deposit.
Back in June, Bristol 247 met with a van dweller called Craig who works as a software engineer. He said that, back when he used to rent, he was evicted three times by landlords keen to sell off their houses. At that time, the evictions made him feel like his “house was being taken away. But then he realised his home was never his in the first place”.
I know many who have experienced similar situations. Being evicted is unsettling for anyone, especially if it’s due to landlords wanting to sell suddenly. I think due to this lots of people don’t want to risk being evicted and feeling on edge in a place they are meant to call home. Lots of people don’t have the luxury of buying a house and renting in the city may not even be a choice… so what happens then if there is nowhere else to go?
I can appreciate that benefits and council-funded housing is available, but it can take weeks for these applications to take place. Meanwhile, being forced out of your home can take a matter of hours.
With the cost of living increasing, van dwelling may become a more common way of life, especially for students. I understand the anxiety that comes with your student tenancy coming to an end. You’ve spent three or more years at university building a life here, studying, making friends, having a part-time or full-time job, only for it to end and then you’re left feeling lost on what to do next….
I couldn’t afford to rent in Bristol after my course finished and I know many students don’t have the option to move home or find a job that can comfortably pay the rent. They may have no other option than to live in a vehicle to keep some form of a job.
The number of van dwellers has increased from 100-150 three years ago to 600-650 in 2024.
The BBC spoke to Bristol cabinet member, Kye Dudd, back in 2024.
The Labour councillor for Southmead said: “No site with a large number of people is going to be without problems, and we do get a large number of complaints – many of them are genuine concerns about rubbish and things like that,” he said. “But this isn’t a fad; the root cause is the housing crisis.
“If we took a possession order on the Downs and dispersed the encampment, where do they go? They could disperse into the nearby streets instead.
“At the moment, although it’s not ideal, it’s probably better that they are there.”
The conflict between van dwellers and residents has not come without its challenges. Both sides of the argument have valid reasons for frustration. I think judgment has been passed from both sides, and physical interactions have escalated situations, with one situation ending up in a physical altercation caught on camera.
I spoke to Tony Nelson, chair of the Protect the Downs community group. He said Downs “residents have seen an increase in anti-social behaviour around the Downs that they don’t think is acceptable and is making some people feel uncomfortable”.
He explained that he thought people living in vehicles out of choice were taking away from van dwellers who truly did need support. He didn’t understand why someone who works couldn’t afford to buy or rent.
I think the conflict between van dwellers and Downs residents will continue until there is concrete action by the council to try and solve this problem. However, I do think this issue runs deeper than people’s choice of living in vans and residents’ concerns about increased waste and anti-social behaviour.
The cost of housing is what has created this divide.
The question I have is how landlords can put the rent up by this much each year. This is a situation that, in my opinion, is going to make Bristol an unliveable city for people, especially students.
Bristol council have proposed that its longer-term plan to address the van dwelling issue is to create up to 250 spaces for people living in vehicles on land which is due to be developed. People at the site would have access to facilities like running water and toilets, as well as health and wellbeing support.
This is a temporary solution. Pushing van dwellers from one site to another does not fix the real problem.
I think there needs to be a bigger conversation. Why don’t we start with why people are being forced to live in vans in the first place?
There is no quick fix; we can’t put a plaster on it and hope this will go away.
The housing crisis in Bristol is real, it’s messy and people are getting distressed over situations that I don’t see being rectified any time soon.
However, more needs to be done, otherwise Bristol will become an evermore unaffordable city.
If Bristol continues to put up house prices and rent, there will be a very small number of people who will be able to live and study here.
This is an opinion piece by Izzy Watt, a journalism MA student at the University of the West of England
If you would like to write an opinion piece to be featured on the website, please send an email to ed-team@bristol247.com with your opinion piece idea and we will get back to you with instructions on the next steps
Main photo: Hannah Massoudi
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
