SOARING rent rises will leave nearly six million private renters living in poverty by 2040, according to a report for the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Forecasts suggest that rents will rise twice as fast as incomes and, without action now, leave more people at risk of poverty.

Experts at Heriot-Watt University analysed trends affecting the housing market, looking at factors such as economic and income growth, changes in house prices, housing supply and rent levels.

Taken from the start of the recession in 2008, they found that by 2040, people who rent will be more than twice as likely to be living in poverty as homeowners, and they said private rents will rise by 90 per cent, twice as fast as incomes.

They predicted that the average private rent will rise from £132 per week to £250 per week in 2040 in real terms.

Foundation chief executive Julia Unwin said: “These stark findings are a wake-up call for political leaders. After decades of failing to build enough, those in power have a responsibility to act now to build more genuinely affordable homes.

"Without that we are storing up trouble for the future – a price that will be paid by children starting school life this year. These high costs are bad for families, the economy and Government."

The JRF calls on the Government and housing providers to work together. It says to prevent one in four people being in poverty by 2040, housing supply must be doubled, social rent rises must be restricted to inflation plus one per cent , housing benefit should continue to support housing costs, and the fall in the proportion of social housing in the overall market should be halted.

Mrs Unwin said: “We need a clear strategy that builds the homes we need in the right places and avoids locking low income households out of affordable homes.

"This is about more than frustrated aspirations of home ownership from Generation Rent: the reality facing many people is a life below the poverty line because of the extortionate cost of keeping a roof over your head. Addressing the rising cost of housing is crucial to tackling the high levels of poverty in the UK.”

The research predicted one in five people would be living in privately-rented homes by 2040 and half of those would be in poverty, a rise of 2.6 million people.