Hello and welcome to a special episode of Women with Balls, sponsored by Lloyd's Banking Group.

The UK is facing a housing crisis, hitting both buyers, renters and those who aren't in a position to live in a stable home.

Factors such as rising mortgage rates and inflation mean that people are increasingly struggling to meet their housing costs, especially lows on low incomes, and women disproportionately fall into that

bracket.

There's a number of reasons for this.

Of all jobs that pay less than the living wage, 60% are held by women.

Over the course of a woman's lifetime, her income can be seriously affected by taking

time out to care for children or elderly relatives. Even in higher paid jobs, Over the course of a woman's lifetime, her income can be seriously affected by taking time

out to care for children or elderly relatives. Even in higher paid jobs, women still earn less

than their male counterparts often. Joining me to discuss the housing crisis from a few

perspective, a Rachel McLean, Minister of State for Leveling Up Housing and Communities,

Esther Dexter, the managing director of intermediaries at

Lloyd's Banking Group, and Claire Miller, the group chief executive for Clary and Housing Group.

Thank you for all joining me today, ladies. Claire, just to begin, as someone who obviously is

working in the housing industry, Clare in the UK's largest housing association, when we're

talking about a housing crisis, what challenges

are you seeing emerging at the moment? So it's particularly difficult at the moment, I think,

and has been for some time. We know that today in England, 4.2 million people are in need of a social

home. And the vast majority of those have no

prospect realistically of getting one any time soon. That's particularly difficult for women and

for women with children. We know that one in every six children is living, for instance, in an overcrowded home.

And that's research by the National Housing Federation. So it's particularly difficult.

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