“If he would rather live in a park than a shared house then good luck to him, and don't complain about it. I somehow manage on £5.85 an hour, 40 hours a week, pay £425 a month plus £100 bills, and £80 travel, and have £50 a week left to live in London where things are more expensive to start off with. This isn't a lot so I got another job. Not ideal but better than living in a park. I'm not sure if Mr Pettit works full or part time, but if it is part time then has the idea of a second/full-time job occurred to him at any point in the last two years?

Also regarding deposits etc - I'm assuming that someone who has has lived in a car, and then a park for two years, will have had ample opportunity to save at least two months rent.

In short, while I sympathise that rents are expensive in Exeter, and that the social housing situation is less than ideal, Mr Pettit's situation is no different to many people across the country, apart from the fact that we cope with living in less than ideal places, having very little spare cash, and little hope of getting into social housing, instead of deciding to drop out, then complain to the local paper about it.”

“Sadly this chap's story reflects the sky-high rents in Exeter and an all too common situation that many people working full time and on a resonable wage find themselves in - that they cannot afford to rent their own place. The only option is a house share, which this guy probably could afford, but many of the cheaper advertised house shares in the city are student houses. Plus you are also taking a bit of a gamble in house sharing, you may find yourself in a lovely house with nice people or you could find yourself in the house-share from hell and locked in for six months on the terms of your contract. One friend of mine is such an example who after the break-up of a relationship decided to house share rather than rent a house as he works away from home quite a lot. Last week some of his housemates kicked in the door of another person in the house and stole some of his property, apparently because that person had told them to keept the noise down in the evenings. The majority of people I know who are in the minimum wage to around £17,000 bracket house share because they cannot afford to rent under any other circumstances. Those who are not house sharing are living with a partner and therefore splitting the costs that way. To put the rent costs into perspective the average rent for a one bedroom property in the city is around £550 per month with the average band A council tax at about £94 or about £70 taking into account single person's allowance. Your water bill will be anywhere between £400 and £600 per year unless you're on a meter, plus utility bills and food. If you're living alone you're looking at about £665 per month excluding utility bills and food. On top of that is the cost of moving. My partner and I have just moved from a one bedroom property in the city to a two bedroom property just outside the city and the total cost of moving was just shy of £2000, excluding the cost of hiring a van for removals. This cost included first months rent, deposit, fee for credit checks carried out by the letting agent and sundry 'admin' fees as well as a 'check in ' and 'check out' fee for each property. My partner and I had saved to move and split the costs. Even for a single bedroom or studio property the average cost would be about £11200 including all fees, a hefty sum to find. Rent costs in other parts of the county are lower, you can find one bedroom properties even in the nicest parts of Plymouth for about £450, less for a studio flat. Equally if you move just outside the city its cheaper, but as someone else has said, you then have to take travel costs into account. While my partner and I were looking for a new place we saw that the cost of one bedroom properties in Exeter varied from £450 (mostly studios and not always very well kept) to £700 (this was an exceptional rent and has since been dropped). Our old flat is currently on the market for £575 per month for one bedroom with a combined living room and kitchen. If you are working it isn't particularly easy to seek help for housing and it must be remembered that many private landlords won't accept tenants relying on housing benefit to help with their rental costs, a quick look at most rental adverts will show the legend 'no pets, children or DSS'. Equally unless you are earning less than £11, 000 you will be unlikely to be eligible for working tax credits.”

“If only it was that easy to find a decent room to rent, in a decent house with decent people.

Perhaps any well meaning person here might want to rent out a room to the good gentleman to show him there is still a caring spirit left in this nation.

Or perhaps, owing to him not having the internet, might personally go and visit him and tell him about your findings of a suitable room.

Its about time we stopped looking towards governments and so called charities to help people who really need it, and started organising ourselves to build homes for people like this who deserve help.”

“This guy has his sums all wrong. He doesnt need to pay for water because by law the water company cant disconnect you, and he doesnt need to pay for a tv license because all he has to do is not watch tv - something which i imagine he does at the moment. A fortune saved already !”

“Bob, rental prices are disgusting, so are the choices for first time buyers and people on the council list its all a joke every single way you look at it. It shows no matter what option you take either way you are not getting your moneys worth and are all a rip off. It really does sum up what sort of people run our country. Like I said you can get a place shared for 250-350 a month and there is a thing called housing benefit that does exist.......Council - Public sector workers get paid in some areas a few grand more than commercial sector jobs. Ithink they might of missed something maybe part time? or a lower job?This puts the council to shame as I have no sympathy for the fat money scheming council workers at the high end who get rediculous salaries. Or the people who have recently decided to go ahead a good few student accomodation sites when there are thousands of us on the council list and whilst we are waiting spending rediculous money on rent this system is so wrong is there not somebody on their rediculous salary who cannot distinguist the inbalance of housing in exeter??”

“Yeah if this guy works full time he could afford to rent a room. If the coucil are not providing full time employment then he would need to get a second job. This is a lifestyle choice and maybe with the summer comming it might just work out. Life under the stars, BBQs, sunshine & fresh air. He's even got gym membership!”

“Rental prices in Exeter are crazy, and then when you find a good priced place you find out the deposit is £100 more than the first months rent.
So Lu, £600 to fork out before I even move in. That is tough to do and then pay your bills and food.
I'm am very glad my parents have been able to help me out.

It's cheaper to move out of Exeter, but then you need to drive and deal with the cost of petrol, car upkeep and the rest.

So life is not so good renting.”

“Has this man ever heard of house sharing you can get one for about 250 a month inc bills... and housing benefit helps with the costs. I agree with the other comment sounds like he wants to be homeless. There are thousands of us on the green band waiting list. They council seem to want to build more student accomodation than council flats. Its disgusting.”

“If he works full time, then he's earning enough money to rent somewhere. If he works part time, he'd be entitled to housing benefits. Sounds like he's homeless because he wants to be !”

“Sorry SWAMPY but all these people are doing is offering some advice.
If he is working full time then he should be able to find accomodation which, while may not be as luxurious as he wants, will be a darn sight better than living in the Park. He, like many of us, just needs to be realistic with our expectations.”