Millennials are not the only ones in overpriced housing. Baby boomers are among the landlords’ victims too
Housing is predominantly presented as a generational issue: millennials aren’t able to get on the property ladder in the same way their parents were. But while it’s true that intergenerational fairness is an issue, this way of presenting the housing crisis glosses over much. Similarly, the focus on London and the south-east in many discussions of priced-out millennials means the rest of the country is ignored.
But housing inequality is an issue that transcends boundaries of age, as a report from the National Housing Federation this week shows. The number of baby boomers struggling with simply paying their rent is staggering: 44% of private renters over 50 resort to borrowing from their children, or cutting back on heating and food. This isn’t a negligible number: 1.13 million people over 50 rent privately now, compared with 651,000 in 2008. The number of people struggling with rent is almost identical to the number of new, older renters. These are people facing penury in retirement, who will never own a home.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2r9feaw
0 comments:
Post a Comment