Housing Crisis - 5 in a two bed flat

A lot of the living conditions you all are describing are considered poverty. I think it’s fine for modern adults to aspire for more than tenement style living and overcrowding in 2026.

But that doesn’t help unless someone can afford to buy it off them! If you are living a cramped 1/2 bed then the chances are you are not in a position to afford a 5 bed house

I really don't think it is. There are only around 280k second homes in the UK that are kept for private use and not let out as holiday lets. It's a tiny drop in the ocean in terms of how many houses short we are overall.

Theres always the option to not have more children.

I grew up in the 70s and it was completely normal to share with siblings.

I found sharing a room with my two sisters quite comforting.

Some cultures frown upon contraception

I sympathise but at least you are upsizing, BakedPotato, so things will be better for you when you have the baby.

Many of us start off small. We had a two bed terraced house badly in need of renovation when husband and I got married. We lived on a building site for years, it was dreadful and drained every penny. We had one child and eventually bought something bigger - and much nicer - but the first few years took its toll.

A boy in my son’s class (7 yr old), has 5 siblings. It’s 4 boys in one bed room- two sets of bunks, eldest girl has her own room and baby shares with mam. It’s nuts

We are currently in a 2 bed flat, 2 boys in the big room, 1 dd in the smaller room and me & dp in the living room on a trundle bed. We have been on the waiting list since dd was born 5 years ago and I have disabilities but makes no difference.

Because of the housing crisis here in Australia it's very common and also somewhat cultural for kids to share a room. Many families I know will have 2-3 kids to a room and use the other room as a study or retreat for the parents, the children are expected to share as their parents likely did. It's not something I do but I guess people just make it work.

Absolutely, this is the true reason for the housing crisis. It is also the reason why so many village schools in my area have closed due to numbers falling to 5 or 6 kids attending. Second homes are destroying villages up and down the UK Charging 300% Council Tax is pointless as these people are so rich it doesn't seem to bother them.

And my dc have always chosen to share despite having enough rooms for them to have one each.

Well of course that can't be helped. But it doesn't change the fact that far too many people have more children already knowing they cannot adequately house them, and then bleat about overcrowding as though it's someone else's fault and someone else's problem to solve.

I grew up as one of three children in a two bedroomed house and hated it. Then my mum took in two teenagers and one used the living room as a room and the other slept shared with me and my sibling. It was a huge factor in limiting my family to two children. I would have loved more children but we have a small three bed.

My DH grew up in a five bedroomed house with one sibling. There was a guest room, two reception rooms and two dining rooms. So sharing rooms, to him, is unusual.

Quite usual at my school.

My DF shared with his 5 younger brothers - the youngest was a baby when he left school. A set of bunks and a double bed. His DSis had the box room to herself.

my bestie has 3 boys and a girl. Her daughter has their box room, the two older boys share and their youngest (6) sleeps in mum and dad’s room.
They are both in full time employment, but they just can’t afford to move. My husband has had talks with her husband about putting a blockade in their son’s bedroom to effectively make two rooms out of one so their oldest son will have his own “bedroom” which will literally be a single bed and a wardrobe.
And before anyone says anything, both she and her husband were made redundant, her family don’t speak to her and his mum passed away, so they literally have no one.
The cost of moving is insane, especially if you’re renting.

One of the wealthiest families I knew had 5 kids. The three boys shared one room with bunk beds, the two girls another with twin beds.

They also had a very luxurious flat in an expensive holiday destination - same arrangement.

Separate rooms for every child is a fairly recent thing.

My great-grandparents had 2 rooms and 2 beds. One for them and one for my gran and her 2 sisters. They were poor, but not the poorest of the poor.

I honestly don’t know how people manage. We are upsizing currently while I’m pregnant because neither my husband and I can see how we could manage a baby, both wfh and space to eat around the table in our tiny 3 bed end of terrace. On paper a three bed sounds plenty big enough for a couple and a baby but it’s only 69sqm, a galley kitchen with no room for a table, and a lounge/diner. We also only have parking for one car.

This
if you can only afford a 2 bed flat don’t keep having more kids then moan!

It has always been the case, Westcountry. My aunt brought up three children in a tiny two bedroomed place, they could never escape from each other.
My maternal grandparents had ten children and a four bed house with no bathroom and a toilet in the garden! However they were fortunate compared to some others.

In recent times it has been so difficult to get on the housing ladder because a deposit is huge. I know a lovely couple in their thirties, both working, have a seven year old and they bought a one bed flat in a not very desirable area. It was all they could afford and have no car, They have cordoned off part of the sitting room to make a little bedroom for their child. It was quite a blow when fuel bills and mortgage rates went up in, I think, October 2023, cost them approximately an extra £1000 a month almost overnight. Still they are optimistic, it won't be forever,

Others are even worse off.

We definitely need more affordable housing.

However things are much better than years ago, especially with the regulations for rented accommodation. You only have to look at 'Call the Midwife', which gives a true representation of society in the 1950s, '60s and now early '70s, to see how bad things were for so many, and gradual improvements.

That used to be the norm. It's not great though

There are a lot of people on MN who have never known the pleasure of being council estate kids.

I shared with my much older sister until she moved out aged 20.

I was just starting school life when she was stotting in from the pub drunk.

It’s normal globally

I'm not anti room sharing, but 4 to a room is absolutely bonkers. And a little selfish of the parents too.