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Generation Rent faces 'oblivion' after funding cut
Generation Rent has launched a crowdfunding campaign to maintain its existence, after having its funding pulled by a major donor.
The campaigning group has made a name for itself in the national media as the voice for young renters, but faces a struggle to secure its future.
It has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £60,000 by the end of August after backer the Nationwide Foundation ‘unexpectedly’ pulled the plug on £166,300 of funding, according to Generation Rent.
The group said the funding had been due to run through to spring 2016, but was pulled over concerns that it had not done enough to secure its financial future as it campaigned during the general election.
If its crowdfunding bid fails, the group will be forced to lay off its staff and will cease to function.
Betsy Dillner, director of Generation Rent, said: ‘This cut has come as a shock and our young campaign is now facing oblivion. Without us, private renters will no longer have a national voice in the media and political debate, and their prospect of a rented sector that works for them will ebb away.’
The group initially supported the National Housing Federation (NHF)-led Homes for Britain campaign, which called for politicians to commit to solving the housing crisis within a generation, before withdrawing its support.
The Nationwide Foundation was established by Nationwide Building Society in 1997, and continues to receive funding from it, but is a separate legal entity. It did not respond to requests for comment.
