Road to Depression

Flood of Londoners take to boats to escape rising housing costs!

on . Posted in Road to Depression

LONDON, England (PNN) - July 8, 2015 - Rocketing housing costs in Britain's capital have fueled a surge in Londoners seeking cheaper accommodation on boats, with increased numbers putting pressure on the city's historic network of rivers and canals.

The picturesque lifestyle of sleeping in a colorfully painted narrowboat or barge can seem tempting, especially when buying one can cost a fraction of the price of bricks and mortar.

"It's become more common for people to do it who don't know what they are getting into, or even because they have no choice," said education worker Jim Bryden, 39, who has lived aboard the Violet Mae for two years with his girlfriend, a dog and a cat.

"I've met people who have ended up on a boat because they had two weeks' notice to leave their flat and were able to buy a boat for £10,000 ($16,000)," said Bryden.

Everyone has a story of spotting newcomers struggling with engine failure, steering ineptly along a crowded canal, or developing regrets once facing a damp, cold winter on boats often heated by stove and just 2.1 meters wide.

Maintenance costs can mount quickly and boaters dryly refer to their vessels as "black holes" for cash, constantly in need of repair.

"If you are ignorant about buying a boat it can be easy to buy a boat that will become a nightmare," said Mikaela Khan-Parrack, 26, who has lived on the water for four years and works as a mooring ranger for the Canal and River Trust (CRT).

Yet even more expensive boats, which can cost over £100,000, are still a fraction of the average London house price of £500,000, up 11% in a year.

As London private rents have increased to cost almost half the average salary, some renters have turned to cheap but illegally let rooms on boats described as moldering "floating shacks" in an article by a former resident.

Yet for many, waking up with ducks swimming by the window, and the freedom and sociability of the pretty tree-lined waterways, compensate for downsides like emptying toilet tanks, trudging the towpath to do laundry or fetch gas cylinders, and vulnerability to thieves.

In a testament to the increasing popularity of the lifestyle, one boat entered the London waterways for every working day in the past year, with popular areas seeing an 85% spike in numbers, according to the CRT.

The charity manages 3,200 kilometers of a network that spans Britain, much of it built to carry freight in the industrial revolution.

The increased numbers have caused congestion, with fierce competition for mooring spaces, long lines at locks, and friction with nearby residents who suddenly find themselves with a large and shifting cast of new neighbors in boats moored two or three abreast.

In one central London stretch of the Regent's Canal, a team of boat-dwelling volunteers maintain special rules to appease nearby residents, who launched a series of complaints to authorities over boat noise and smoke disturbing their expensive terraced homes, which line the canal.

Yet an attempt by the CRT to address congestion has caused an outcry in the boating community.

Many boats have "continuous cruising" licenses, which require them to move along every 14 days, rather than stay in a permanent rented mooring spot - which are in short supply and can cost the same to rent in London as an apartment.

This spring the CRT began an enforcement drive on continuous cruisers, warning it would refuse to renew licenses or remove boats that it deemed did not move often or far enough along the waterways.

Almost 20,000 people signed a petition against the drive, calling on boaters to mobilize to "prevent the eviction of boat dwellers" and accusing the CRT of pushing families into homelessness.

"Like it or not, socio-political realities have made the waterways an affordable housing resource for many families," the petition reads, accusing the CRT of a "marked hostility towards the water-based community" and targeting people with nowhere else to go.

CRT spokesman Joe Coggins argues that boaters must either follow the regulations, get a permanent mooring, or accept that the boating life might not be for them.

"More people are moving onto boats, popularity is going through the roof," Coggins said. "Rather than looking at it as a cheap housing option we want people to see it as a lifestyle."

Eulogies

Eulogy for an Angel
1992-Dec. 20, 2005

Freedom
2003-2018

Freedom sm

My Father
1918-2010

brents dad

Dr. Stan Dale
1929-2007

stan dale

MICHAEL BADNARIK
1954-2022

L Neil Smith

A. Solzhenitsyn
1918-2008

solzhenitsyn

Patrick McGoohan
1928-2009

mcgoohan

Joseph A. Stack
1956-2010

Bill Walsh
1931-2007

Walter Cronkite
1916-2009

Eustace Mullins
1923-2010

Paul Harvey
1918-2009

Don Harkins
1963-2009

Joan Veon
1949-2010

David Nolan
1943-2010

Derry Brownfield
1932-2011

Leroy Schweitzer
1938-2011

Vaclav Havel
1936-2011

Andrew Breitbart
1969-2012

Dick Clark
1929-2012

Bob Chapman
1935-2012

Ray Bradbury
1920-2012

Tommy Cryer
1949-2012

Andy Griffith
1926-2012

Phyllis Diller
1917-2012

Larry Dever
1926-2012

Brian J. Chapman
1975-2012

Annette Funnicello
1942-2012

Margaret Thatcher
1925-2012

Richie Havens
1941-2013

Jack McLamb
1944-2014

James Traficant
1941-2014

jim traficant

Dr. Stan Monteith
1929-2014

stan montieth

Leonard Nimoy
1931-2015

Leonard Nimoy

Stan Solomon
1944-2015

Stan Solomon

B. B. King
1926-2015

BB King

Irwin Schiff
1928-2015

Irwin Schiff

DAVID BOWIE
1947-2016

David Bowie

Muhammad Ali
1942-2016

Muhammed Ali

GENE WILDER
1933-2016

gene wilder

phyllis schlafly
1924-2016

phylis schafly

John Glenn
1921-2016

John Glenn

Charles Weisman
1954-2016

Charles Weisman

Carrie Fisher
1956-2016

Carrie Fisher

Debbie Reynolds
1932-2016

Debbie Reynolds

Roger Moore
1917-2017

Roger Moore

Adam West
1928-2017

Adam West

JERRY LEWIS
1926-2017

jerry lewis

HUGH HEFNER
1926-2017

Hugh Hefner

PROF. STEPHEN HAWKING
1942-2018

Hugh Hefner 

ART BELL
1945-2018

Art Bell

DWIGHT CLARK
1947-2018

dwight clark

CARL MILLER
1952-2017

Carl Miller

HARLAN ELLISON
1934-2018

Harlan Ellison

STAN LEE
1922-2018

stan lee

CARL REINER
1922-2020

Carl Reiner

SEAN CONNERY
1930-2020

dwight clark

L. NEIL SMITH
1946-2021

L Neil Smith

JOHN STADTMILLER
1946-2021

L Neil Smith