NEW figures published in The Press today reveal the soaring cost of housing is pushing out not only those who want to buy a home in York, but those who want to rent here too.

The average weekly rent on a council home in the city – for those who can get one – is now £75.35. That compares with an average weekly rent of £177.46 for those renting privately. No wonder there are such long waiting lists for council properties.

It is the high cost of renting privately that is largely responsible for driving up the city council’s housing benefits bill. Last year that bill topped £45 million for the first time, having almost doubled over the last ten years.

Such high private sector rents are good for no-one, certainly not for the desperate families who increasingly cannot afford to rent in York, but also not for private landlords either, if they result in homes and flats standing empty because no-one can afford them.

York council leader James Alexander has now called for a debate on whether York should introduce “rent-capping” in a bid to drive down private rents.

We agree that lower private sector rents would be good. Life would be easier for many hard-up families and York would have to fork out less taxpayers’ money in the form of housing benefit to pay for high rents.

We are not convinced, however, that rent-capping – which would presumably involve forcing landlords to limit what they charge – would be workable. How would such a cap be enforced in a free market economy?

Nevertheless, we welcome any debate that focuses attention on the high cost of housing in York. If the council could find a way of working with private landlords to encourage, rather than enforce, restraint on rents, that could potentially make a real difference.