How do we fix the housing crisis? Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series, in which our writers share their experiences of the UK’s dysfunctional housing system and examine how we can fix it.
The scandal of England’s one million empty homesThe UK’s new rental scandal that no one is talking aboutHow the van-life generation made homelessness into an aestheticThe ‘spinster’ housing crisis can no longer be ignoredThere’s nothing attractive about being a landlord anymore
I grew up assuming I’d own a home one day. Not a mansion. Just a modest flat. Perhaps a nice one-bed on a pleasant, tree-lined street somewhere. That seemed reasonable.
It seemed reasonable because that’s what I’d seen. Every adult I knew owned a house – my parents, their friends, my aunts and uncles. And all of them were working class: mechanics, bus drivers, hairdressers, shopkeepers. Nobody had inherited wealth or done anything spectacular. They’d just worked, saved, and got on the ladder by their mid-twenties. And I fully expected to do the same.
I knew house prices had increased since my parents’ generation, but I had something they hadn’t: a university degree. I was the only one in my family to receive an education past the age of sixteen. That felt like progress and I assumed I would earn enough in my new career to get on that property ladder.
