London rents crisis: This is how bad it is and things will get even worse [Infographic]

London's housing market is in crisis. A severe shortage of residential properties is forcing up house prices and rents. Buying a home in the capital is unaffordable for many without financial help from family or friends.

As a consequence, some Londoners are forced into smaller accommodation. Bedroom sharing is on the rise. More narrowboats are crowding the city's canals as each month goes by. Some people are finding cheap rent in property guardianship, living in the city's old offices or police stations to deter squatters.

"Successive governments have failed miserably to build the homes we need, pushing housing costs in the capital sky-high and leaving an entire generation stuck in insecure and expensive private renting," Campbell Robb, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said.

"We hear from young families every day who are caught in a 'rent trap', paying out dead money to their landlords with hardly any money left over each month to put into savings.

"Worse still, some are forced to live in homes riddled with hazards and poor conditions. And, with the number of private renters increasingly rapidly as more and more are left priced out, things could easily get worse.

"The only way to give renters back the hope of a stable future is for politicians to roll up their sleeves and finally commit to building the homes we so desperately need."

IBTimes UK is running a series of features focusing on London's worsening housing crisis and they will look at how some Londoners are suffering while others are beating it. To kick off the series, here is a graphic showing the scale of the problem and how it has got worse over the past few years – and will worsen in the future.

Flipboard magazine: London's rents crisis series in full

Graphic by Luis Ouriach