Just 24 hours before the General Election, a new poll of future MPs published by the National Housing Federation has revealed that nine in 10 (89%) are worried that most under-30s in their constituency will not be able to afford to buy a home in a decade’s time.
This echoes young people’s concerns that they will be renting for life.
The ComRes poll of sitting MPs and parliamentary candidates most likely to win their seats also found that almost seven in 10 (68%) future MPs would like the leader of their own party to do more to tackle the county’s housing challenges.
Renting for life is an increasingly realistic prospect for many young people as the average deposit required soars to almost 10 times the deposit required in the 1980s (adjusted for inflation). Over the last two decades, the private rented sector has almost doubled; one in five households (18%) is rented from a private landlord.
For the first time in recent years, housing has featured heavily as a General Election issue, but both MPs and young people are pessimistic about the future. In a recent YouGov poll of 18-34 year olds, fewer than one in five (19%) young people think that the nation’s housing situation will improve. They were also asked how they would feel if they did indeed have to rent for the rest of their life:
- over half (52%) said that they would be frustrated;
- almost two-fifths (38%) said that they would be depressed;
- over a third (35%) said that they would be angry;
- and a quarter (25%) said it would make them embarrassed or ashamed.
With a chronic housing shortage pushing up prices and home ownership out of reach of so many; the National Housing Federation is calling on the next Government to take bold action to end the housing crisis within a generation.
David Orr, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, commented: “There is now an overwhelming consensus among both the public and politicians that there is a housing crisis in this country and one that requires immediate attention.
“The next government must do everything in its power to get the nation building the homes it needs. 8 in 10 don’t trust any of the main parties to effectively deal with the housing crisis – politicians should see this as a challenge and rise to it.
“In these vital last days before the election, we are urging whoever gets the keys to Downing Street to be bold and come up with a long-term plan to end the housing crisis within a generation.”
