Housing Crisis - 5 in a two bed flat

I suppose people shouldn’t be having kids that they can’t house properly

My parents had a 3 bed - well 2 bed and box room - semi detached house and a family moved in next door with 5 kids. The 4 girls all shared the biggest room and the boy had the box room. Not how I would want my family to live, that’s why I had 2 kids and not 5.

Historically it’s not unusual. Looking at my ancestors on a census, maybe 1881 or 1891. Husband, wife, Granny and several kids in one room. Sister and her husband and kids in another room. Then because they had a spare room they had a lodger. It wasn’t a 3 bedroom house, it was a 3 room house.

Of course it’s good that we’d be horrified at that now.

I do find it sad that when I was a child every single family in my school
lived in a 3 bedroom council house. They might have had 2 or 3 kids in one room, particularly when granny lived there too, but we all had a house. My DC went to the same primary school as I did, and many of their friends lived in 2 bed flats.

So I’d say we’re better than the 1880s but not necessarily better than the 1980s.

A bit smug there @Sweetdreamsbeautifulnightmare

Let’s hope that if you split up you can both afford a two-bedroom place and are able to afford a bigger place again if you get new partners who also have children.

Remember that pride comes
before a fall (and at least 50% of marriages end in divorce). Your circumstances could well change.

My Dad lived in a 3 bedroomed council house growing up. There were 7 children and 2 adults. The boys (3 of them in one bed) shared a room, the girls (4 of them) shared another and my grandparents were in another. Yes, my grandparents had way too many children, for the size of the house and couldn't afford them. It was before benefits ever existed, and yes they both worked full-time in menial low paid jobs.

My FIL shared a bedroom with 3 brothers and his parents were in the other bedroom.

It wasn't unusual years ago.

My grandmother shared a bed with her 3 siblings, including a brother, until she left to get married.

I wouldn’t want my child to live in these cramped conditions, but we can’t seem to convince people to plan ahead. Sure some people end up with changed circumstances, but more often they just proceed and hope things will work out.

I bought an ex council house and my neighbour was a council tenant. It had downstairs bathroom, galley kitchen, decent size livingroom and upstairs one good size bedroom, one medium size one box room. She brought up four boys and a girl. She and her DH were in the middle room, four boys shared the bigger bedroom, girl in box room. Needs must. She said they just made it work as they had no choice.

Nowadays it seems everyone expects a child to have their own bedroom or else the family must be living on crisis or poverty.

When I was a child I shared a bedroom with my 2 sisters and my brothers shared a bedroom. We had one bathroom between us so had to have a strict bathroom rota. Yes, by today's standards we were overcrowded but our house was full of tolerance and love. Noone could afford to be selfish and we all turned out to be decent human beings.

Admittedly as an adult I enjoy my own space immensely but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the way I grew up.

The ones that then add a new baby to the mix - just why - oh it’s not to get a bigger house is it ?!!

My good friend grew up in two bedroom house with a small kitchen living room and one bathroom. She had a bedroom to herself and her parents had the other bedroom. Her SIX brothers shared a kind of cabin out the back with three sets of bunk beds. She said she was jealous as she always wanted to be in with the boys having fun.

I'm 66. I shared a bedroom with my parents in the '60s. We had an inside toilet, but no bathroom.

I recall that another family in the same block had 5 children. Yet another family had only 3 children, but three adults in the household. All the flats had only one bedroom.

That's all very well, but with my colleague (see my post above) as I understand it hee parents bought a 2-up and 2-down as their first home. They were planning to move before are and her brother got too old to share.

Her dad then became unexpectedly ill and had to give up work. Her mum worked in a low paid job. They could t afford to move to a 3 bed property as they originally planned

Shit happens

7 of us in a 3 bed in the 70s … 3 girls in one bedroom, 2 boys in another, mum & dad in the third.

It was fine - no central heating (of course), you always a siblings bed to crawl into

Don’t be so ridiculous 🙄. Suggesting no one needs a second home is not “tearing you down”. What ludicrous victim mentality.

It’s not always a choice if split up and need to provide a roof over your kids so have a smaller place

but it’s more the ones who have 2 kids in a 2 bed so kids share - then have a 3rd

or couples with kids each and then have a joint child and if in housing they want a larger place

Family of 5, parents and three chilren in a flat with two bedrooms is not incredibly crowded and its not a crisis.

That sounds unsustainable :(

I shared with my siblings. People lived within their means. Perfectly normal.

My mother lived in a 2 up 2 down with 7 siblings and 2 parents and an uncle. I lived with my parents, grand father, great aunt, uncle, aunt , sibling and cousin in a 3 bed house because the alternative was the streets for some. If Andy Burnham can tackle the tragedy of people living on the streets he will have been worth my vote.

Oh give over .
Since time began we’ve had it drummed into us to do well at school get a good job work hard and you get somewhere in life and all you want to do is tear us down . You give your money to someone else then if that’s what you want .

I had a couple of friends growing up who were sharing a room of 3 siblings. I was quite envious of them growing up, I thought it would be really nice always having someone to share with. They've grown up to be lovely adults who are doing well in life. It's only on MN I've seen people shocked about siblings sharing a room. It was the norm where I grew up.

I’m not sure it’s a crisis but more peoples choices and expectations are different.
I have 3 children, we had a 3 bed house. When it became apparent the two sharing a room couldn’t share because they hated each other we saved and extended into the loft.
I would never have had more than 3, despite wistfully thinking 4 would have been lovely because of the space and finances we have.
My friend has 4 children sharing the master bedroom in 2 bunk beds, one in a small box room as it’s an opposite gender to its siblings and then they have the middle bedroom.
They brought their house when
the first one was a baby and despite knowing how many rooms they had, they decided on 5 children. They are all loved and cherished and have a close sibling bond, they don’t appear to mind sharing 4 to a room.
I wouldn’t have chosen to have such a large family, but both of them are from larger families so for them it was the norm, whereas I was luckily to always have my own room and valued my space.
Peoples circumstances do change, but I never understand people who are already overcrowded having extra children.

I agree in a housing crisis no one needs a second home that lays empty alot of the time .

Where do people even keep all their clothes/ endless washing/ belongings?

I grew up in a tiny cottage in a small village in Lancashire in the 50s and always had a shared bedroom (either 2 or 3 to the room, all girls) Our few clothes went in a chest of drawers in the bedroom and downstairs each child had one small drawer in the kitchen dresser for her things. The trick is to own very little. 😉

I think it seems more extreme now people have less children but a few decades ago not sharing would have been unusual. My husband shared with his two brothers until he was well into adulthood. His two sisters also shared a box room with bunk beds til their mid twenties. Over crowding legislation takes into account living rooms so a two bedroom flat or house is very likely to be able to house 6 people without being considered overcrowded.

I was the youngest of 8. But I don't remember them all living at home but from my memory its was bedroom 1. 2 brothers and nephew bunk bed plus single bed. Bedroom 2 myself 2 sisters bunk bed and single. Box room sister. My parents slept down stairs on a fold out sofa . It was a through lounge.

It wasn't bad. But we didn't know any different so it wasn't horrible.