A FAMILY of six who live in a tiny damp-filled room were among dozens of renters who took to the streets today in protest at London’s spiralling housing crisis.

With multibillion-pound developments pricing local residents out of the area in favour of the wealthy, Rania Issa said that the condition of her family’s room had left all four of the children with asthma.

Speaking ahead of the London Renters Union (LRU) rally outside Brent Civic Centre, she said: “I live in one small room with my husband and four children.

“We cannot afford anywhere bigger. There is only one window, which I cannot open.

“My eldest son is really struggling. Our situation has been really bad for his mental health.

“It’s impossible to have a normal life when we’re living like this.”

Fellow Brent resident Osman Mohamed added: “I live in just one small room.

“There is water from upstairs leaking into my flat. I’ve been trying to get it fixed for months.

“When we spoke on the phone, they said they would increase the rent by £100.

“Sometimes I have to sleep at my friend’s house because it is so bad here. It feels like a prison cell.”

More than 50 LRU members took part in the protest, calling for urgent action after rents in Brent soared by more than a third in just a year.

Housing in north-west London borough was traditionally affordable, but Brent has recently had some of the fastest-rising rents in the capital, skyrocketing to an eye-watering £2,119 on average, leaving countless tenants in crisis.

LRU said the council’s repeated sidestepping of targets for family-sized social homes had only worsened the situation, with families now facing a 20-year wait for affordable housing, forcing many into an insecure private rental market or even homelessness.

A union spokesman said: “Here in Brent, we’ve seen private profit put before people at every level. 

“The council gives the green light to developments that are out of reach for ordinary people, while renters are told there is no social housing available.

“Meanwhile, the Labour government refuses to protect us from skyrocketing rents in the Renters’ Rights Bill.”

Council leader and cabinet member for housing Muhammed Butt said: “Brent is one of the worst affected areas in the UK by the housing crisis, with 34,000 people on the housing register waiting for a suitable home.

“We have always been clear [that] the only limit to our ambition to build more affordable housing is the golden thread of funding.”