'WE’VE GIVEN UP THE DREAM OF OWNING OUR OWN HOME'
Secondary school teacher Agron Cakaj can no longer see a future for himself in the UK.
After moving from Kosovo in 1998 as war broke out, he said he had gone “from having dreams and expectations of having a place of my own to slowly realising that was never going to be possible".
Mr Cakaj and his wife, also a teacher, work in one of the most deprived parts of the Birmingham. Unable to afford their own home, they now plan leaving the UK for Poland after 26 years here.
He is one of the many people who told the BBC via Your Voice, Your Vote that housing is their top election issue.
Savings 'decimated' with rent
The Cakaj family moved to Birmingham from London in the hope of being able to afford to buy a home seven years ago.
“We’ve had to give up that dream as well because frankly, with deposits, whatever you can raise with the cost of living, that has been decimating any idea of savings. It’s never going to be enough,” Mr Cakaj said.
“We’re perennial losers in this system, even though we are both teachers.”
He has called for a more balanced rental market in which housing costs less than 30% of a household’s monthly income which he says would allow renters to save up for a deposit.
Mr Cakaj also said mortgage providers should consider reliable rent payers when approving mortgages.
After more than two decades, Mr Cakaj feels ambivalent towards the UK.
“I’ve got loads of good feelings and gratitude to a country that welcomed me," he said.
"On the other hand, I’ve got no floor to stand on. It’s not really about my future, it’s about my children.
"It’s not an easy decision to take once you’ve invested 26 years of your life and raised a family here.”
The political parties have set out a range of policies concerning housing.
The Liberal Democrats plan to increase the building of new homes by 380,000, including 150,000 social homes, a year.
The Greens have said they will campaign for councils to be granted the authority to impose rent controls, end the Right to Buy, and to build 150,000 social homes a year in England.
The Labour party has promised to build 1.5 million new homes in England over the next five years. They say that stripping back planning rules will help facilitate this.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has also said that his party would ban rental “bidding wars” should his party get into power.
The Conservative party has set the goal of building 1.6 million houses in England over the same period.
They are also planning on reviving the Help to Buy scheme which would provide first-time buyers with an equity loan of up to 20% towards the cost of one of these new homes.
The Tories are also maintaining the current stamp duty threshold of £425,000 in England and Northern Ireland for first-time buyers.
For renters, there is currently a commitment to eventually ban no-fault eviction but it has been delayed.
6,500 teachers plan 'drop in ocean'
Mr Cakaj is also disenfranchised by the UK’s education system.
“I work at the coalface and I don’t see any attention given to the teaching profession and education," he said.
He has not been impressed by the education policies put forward by any party, and called Labour's plan to recruit 6,500 more teachers a “drop in the ocean”.
“Teachers are leaving the profession in a far greater number than that. It’s about retention first, then recruitment."
According to government statistics, 43,500 teachers left the state-funded sector in 2022/23.
The Liberal Democrats have promised to increase funding for each pupil above in inflation every year as well as to raise early years pupil premium from £353 to £1,000 per annum.
The Labour party plans to add a 20% VAT to private school fees and use this to recruit 6,500 more teachers to England’s state schools.
The Conservatives have promised to protect day-to-day schools spending per pupil in line with inflation and legislate to ban mobile phones from classrooms.
The Greens plan to spend almost £14bn more on education, put all academies under council control and to abolish formal testing at secondary level and to disband Ofsted.