When my dad was my age he owned a four-bed semi - so why am I still in a rented dump?

ruggedtoast

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/richard-godwin-when-my-dad-was-my-age-he-owned-a-fourbed-semi--so-why-am-i-still-in-a-rented-dump-8411132.html

So much for Margaret Thatcher’s property-owning democracy. While once a young citizen might have aspired to join the lawnmowing classes, now they tread their laminate flooring, eyeing the patch of damp, wondering if the landlord will sort it out in time for the next tenant.

The 2011 census, published yesterday, shows that home ownership, that cherished ideal of our parents, has fallen from 69 per cent to 65 per cent in the past 10 years. We are becoming a nation of tenants instead, with the number living in private rented accommodation rising from nine per cent to 15 per cent — and almost 30 per cent in London. Mine is one of those pokey one-beds that tip the balance in Hackney, where renters now outnumber homeowners.

This is not just a question of lifestyle choice. According to the Institute of Public Policy Research, nine in 10 young people want to own a home within the next 10 years — but most cannot imagine how they will be able to do so. In a society still dominated by a generation that has done very well out of home ownership, that is a worrying shift.

Too often the debate is presented solely in terms of material circumstances. Lovely as it no doubt is to spend weekends comparing Farrow and Ball swatches and strimming hedges, this is not all that tenants miss out on. The IPPR report shows that homeowners feel far stronger social ties than private renters, who do not generally make friends with their neighbours or participate in community projects. Since landlords are at liberty to expunge them with a month’s notice, what would be the point in laying down roots? It is no wonder the age at which couples are thinking of having children is increasing.

Every few weeks, I seem to end up in a long, intractable conversation about this sort of thing with my parents. My dad, noting the difference between generations, recently observed that when they were my age — ie, after around a decade in the working world — they had acquired a four-bedroom suburban house, two cars and three children. They worked hard to do this, of course, but still, this was very much the natural order of things. It is now this home-owning generation that feels the most ownership over society as a whole. This is why so much policy is aimed at protecting them, why any rise in house prices is still greeted as fabulous news, why there is a depressing lack of acknowledgement of this growing demographic split.

There are signs that politicians are waking up to the problem. The Conservatives are promising to build more homes (not nearly enough) and Labour has launched a promising policy review. Until they do, young people will not only have to live with mildewed taps and extortionate rents — but a feeling that full citizenship still awaits us.

Wookster

Anyone who says that life is easier for young folks nowadays than it was 30 years ago is in lala land.

Mr._Pricklepants

Richard Godwin Biography:
http://www.standard.co.uk/biography/richard-godwin


- The spirits: five vodkas with a real character. Richard Godwin's cocktail adventures...
- Disco Bistro - review . A mash-up of good taste and trash, says Richard Godwin
- The London cocktail line. Go underground and enjoy a tipple as you travel home this festive season. Richard Godwin give us the best drinking stops on every Tube route. All aboard
- Who spread the myth that work pays?



So, that’s that one answered.

moneyinmypocket

What rubbish OP, the yoof of today have never had it so good. The older generation didn't have the latest gadgets and didn't have a holiday abroad each year, didn't blow a 100 on a night out, didn't have to have the latest clothes

ILW

Possibly "dad" in the OP was just better at his job than the son.

ruggedtoast

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

Richard Godwin Biography:
http://www.standard.co.uk/biography/richard-godwin


- The spirits: five vodkas with a real character. Richard Godwin's cocktail adventures...
- Disco Bistro - review . A mash-up of good taste and trash, says Richard Godwin
- The London cocktail line. Go underground and enjoy a tipple as you travel home this festive season. Richard Godwin give us the best drinking stops on every Tube route. All aboard
- Who spread the myth that work pays?



So, that’s that one answered.

Journalist Richard Godwin in shock outing as a journalist.

Obviously no one who writes for a newspaper will satisfy your criteria as having a "proper job", but their job actually is to document events in history and society.

If you discount everything written by someone whose job it is to write you'll never learn anything. Which would amply explain your posting history actually.

spacey2012

When parents were around, the country had a surplus of homes.
If the current immigration figures are even remotely correct, 7 million people of working age dont have a home of their own and share.
Supply and demand.

homelessskilledworker

ILW wrote: »

Possibly "dad" in the OP was just better at his job than the son.

Maybe his Dad did have a better job, and maybe the "yoof of today" (as some keep calling them ) go out on the lash every night and buy the latest electronic gizmo once a month, and maybe they are lazy and have a massive sense of entitlement issues, maybe maybe maybe.

AND

Maybe there are immigration issues that have caused problems, maybe the old social housing that has now been sold has caused a massive problem(many on here got lucky with right to buy). And maybe there is too much assistance out there for a rigged housing market, £25 Billion in HB springs to mind and the very forgiving forebarance laws. Maybe we now have the lowest building of new homes in a 100 years, which is even mor frightning when you look at the size of the population now.

Whatever side you take, if thats the right way to see this(really should not be sides), it is a good and important subject to raise on a board such as this.
What we don't need is the lazy and moronic caricature of the so called stereotypical lazy young adult of today.

As someone who has never claimed welfare in his life and was so anti fraudulant welfare claims until a few months ago, I have now softend(slightly) to an argument that was put to me recently which was basically try walking in their shoes, I would ask some of you to do the same with the housing problems we have to day.

robmatic

If the guy who wrote that article had taken up a trade instead of a poorly paid and dying profession such as journalism, he probably would have a 3 bed semi by now.

grizzly1911

homelessskilledworker wrote: »

I have now softend(slightly) to an argument that was put to me recently which was basically try walking in their shoes, I would ask some of you to do the same with the housing problems we have to day.

That is the key to many problems in society not just housing.

Bosses that have never done the doing for instance.

So many of the people that control policy , direction and the purse strings just haven't got the experience, knowledge, and commonsense to make balanced, practical decisions.

how many people had just a basic house, one old car and no kids, struggling like mad to make ends meet, after 10 years, back then too.

RevolvingDoor

I feel sorry for young people that have to pay extortionate rents for c*appy properties, particularly in London, or have the option of living with their parents so they can save up a deposit.