Mighty Mouse
I was talking to my son earlier about the prospects of youngsters buying flats today, compared with when my mates were bought their first homes. I remember back in around 1980 most of my friends were buying 1 or 2 bedroom flats for between £18,000 and £23,000 in Catford and being in their early twenties they were only doing quite basic jobs on modest incomes - but it was still affordable. Contrast that with now when those same flats would be £200,000 - £275,000 and you'd need to be earning over £50k pa to be eligible for a mortgage. It's a different world! Luckily, (for my son) 6 years ago I managed to find a mainstream Buy-to-Let lender who'd take on a 19yr old non-earning student so he got himself a large 3-bed Victorian flat in central Forest Hill with current monthly repayments of only £385. Again though, today, the strict lending criteria and punitive setting-up costs - not to mention the property prices - would've made my son's scenario a non-starter; and this is why I'd jump on those Perry Vale flats. Whilst you're not in a position to buy and if you're happily renting I think that's cool. I can obviously appreciate you being a little concerned about whether you'll be able to afford to rent [considering the stupid rises] but I think there will always be landlords who rent at below market rates so you should be alright. Another thing that's worth mentioning is the shared ownership flats that are being offered by housing associations - like the Printworks development along by the railway in Clyde Vale. My sister bought her flat on that scheme back in the 80's and she gradually upped her ownership stake as her salary increased and it worked out really well for her. Anyway, I'm not a mortgage broker or anything but if you ever want to hook up for a chat with someone who might be able to give you a little benefit of many varied experiences of acquiring local property then PM me and I'd be more than happy to help you if I can.

Also, I've just noticed Tim Lund's post and I agree that more housing needs to be made available at affordable rents/prices. Unfortunately I can't offer any help with ideas on campaigning though.