Our Working Adults Still Living With Mum And Dad

July

31

7 comments

There’s some alarming statistics this week from Shelter. To summarise their findings:

  • Almost two million working adults aged between 20 and 34 are living with their parents
  • These are working adults – not students or unemployed
  • Almost half of them say they are still at home because they cannot afford to buy or rent.
  • This map shows how the situation varies around the country
  • Castle Point has the highest percentage in the country – 45 %
  • Rochford has the second highest – 42%
  • clipped wings

    There has rightly been a lot of opposition to the proposed housing “North Of London Road” and in Hullbridge. People are justifiably concerned about infrastructure, especially roads and drainage. South East Essex – Rochford District and Castle Point in particular – seemed to have been poorly treated for decades by the county council regarding highways, and our drainage systems have been neglected. We need to carry on fighting for all the infrastructure we need.. We can certainly argue that the housing is being proposed in the wrong locations. But what we can’t do is say there is no local demand… And perhaps we should focus on getting housing suitable for local young people, rather than more 4 bedroom executive homes.

    Why is the situation so difficult for our young adults adults here? Probably the root cause goes back to the 1950s and 1960s when the population soared. The population actually doubled in the fifties. And then development continued , at a slightly lower rate, in following decades. The end result today is that housing has already spread to the edge of Rayleigh. There are very few ‘easy’ sites left to develop.

    Chart of Rayleigh and Rawreth's  population 1931- 1961
    Chart of Rayleigh and Rawreth’s population 1931- 1961

    About the author, admin

  • Sorry Chris there is no ” demand ” from young people because they cannot afford to buy – recent surveys say late 30’s / early 40’s before people achieve a salary sufficient to buy their own home , even a Flat in this area is a challenge for people paying off their Uni debt ( Mr Clegg please note ).

    But I understand your point , if any – it is starter homes we need , but that is’nt what
    Developers want -anyone want to guess the Countryside price level for ‘ affordable housing’ quotas that they are forced to concede.

    Please don’t misunderstand me, I know we need to build , my issue is houses without Infrastructure does’nt work – let’s not forget that Southend/ Castlepoint/ Basildon as well as RDC are all going to build houses not Infrastructure.

  • Yup, we need 1000’s of new homes, 1000’s of starter homes, as long as they are not near me…..face facts people…..this is a small island which is fit to burst, especially in the SE. As long as people keep having loads of kids then it will continue…..it’s not rocket science is it.

  • England is the most densely populated country in Europe thanks to Labour’s immigration policy. We have 411 people per square kilometre, a rise from 374 when Blair came to power. The population of the UK as a whole is around 64 million, not counting people here illegally. And yet no-one tackles this issue. I’ve said before, it isn’t too few houses, it’s too many people. As Oz had said, we are an island, we have only a finite amount of space, you can’t just keep building and building. Somehow the population issue has to be tackled, it isn’t just housing, it’s transport, health services (already stretched to breaking point and beyond) the whole thing.

    I can understand why Government(s) are reluctant to get to grips with this, to do it properly some very unpopular and severe measures will have to be taken, but the longer it is delayed the worse the problem will be.

  • I think the problem is less to do with Uni debt or people having loads of kids, it’s just the price of houses with 2 bed’s around £200,000 and flats over £100,000 you need a good wage to buy anything. I doubt if the houses are built between London Road & Rawreth Lane any will be very affordable.

    My friends still talk about a housing ladder, but wages go up so much slower than houses prices, I was lucky to get the house I’m in when I brought it over 10 years ago as I doubt I could get a mortgage to buy it now and can’t see myself being able to afford to move to anything larger in the future.

  • Yep , what happened to those schemes where people bought 50% of a property initially ( say in their 20’s ) then as they progressed bought another 25% ( say in their 30’s) and the final stake at 40 odd when on a reasonable salary – think they were called Housing Associations.
    And what about Council stock , a cheap rent for 5 years in which to save up for your
    first buy , which frees up the Council place for someone else to start with – or were they all sold off ( short sighted / short term policies )?.

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