Younger people should be rewarded for lockdown via affordable housing

[Ordree]

As others have noted, young people (not just those in frontline roles) are making enormous sacrifices to protect others, mostly but not exclusively from much older age groups. They will be bequeathed a damaged planet, a ruined economy and they will have done further damage to their mental health by staying indoors for months on end. They are the ones paying older people's pensions when they won't have anything like the same financial security to look forward to themselves. Yes I know older people paid their elders pensions during their working lives, bit never has there been such an imbalance. As the economy is likely to be ruined short to medium term anyway, would it not be reasonable to start the biggest givernment-funded housebuilding programme ever, allow younger people who have just bought to write off negative equity losses against tax, and essentially redress some of the appalling imbalance between generations and classes?

And with nasty stereotyped threads like this it's no wonfpser that there's inter-generational strife and that MN has a terrible reputation for ageism

We have employer contributions as well infact we have to be offered a pension this wasn't ye case years ago to my knowledge . Neither of my parents have a work pension

Older generations worked hard for what they have. Yes times are different but no one is helping themselves now.

And both my parents should of been getting state pension now but both in the age bracket where they had pension age moved without that much notice and time to prepare.All generations are important without one we wouldn't have the other

Are you one of the young ones you are talking about, I am in my late 50's and my husband and I have worked and contributed towards our pensions not just our elders

Did these older people not work for all this though - nhs , pensions etc holidays abroad don't think governments funded there holidays

I never said anyone funded their holidays. However, many of them will have had the real value of their mortgages vastly reduced by 1970s inflation, then seen their equity soar I'm the 1980s, 1997-2007 & depending on where you live 2010-2020 housing booms. They didn't earn the increase in value of their homes. Many of them will also have had a free taxpayer funded university education, & they are way more likely to have had final salary defined benefit pension schemes. So I do think there is a huge imbalance and I do think it needs rectifying

Are you one of the young ones you are talking about, I am in my late 50's and my husband and I have worked and contributed towards our pensions not just our elders
Yes, you may well have contributed to your pension, just as someone today would do. If it was a final salary pension, This is almost always better and more secure than defined contribution. If your housing costs are eating all your income you won't have any disposable income to pay into even a stock market dependent defined contribution scheme.

Final salary wasn't that common to my knowledge and they would of struggled and paid taxes etc , jobs weren't always well paid no such thing as minimum wage . Plenty of older people don't own their own houses as well .

Those of us who worked hard to buy 3-4 years ago with a 5% deposit have built up a small amount of equity in that time. Your plan would crash the housing market and wipe out that equity, but not quite leave us in negative equity to benefit from the write-off that you propose. No thanks!

It would be very unfair to award cheap housing on the sole basis of age. A young person from a wealthy family will be far better off housing wise than some older but poorer people. There are many many families living in rooms in temporary accommodation and disabled people stuck in unsuitable housing. If anyone needs to be prioritised it's them. Certainly more should be done longer-term to ensure the poorer members of the younger generation don't face the same awful situations previous generations have suffered. We need more social housing.

Everyone is making sacrifices.
The economy is going to be in a huge recession.
No one is going to get a reward.

And frankly, I think it's a pretty damning indicator of contemporary society that people think any kind of sacrifice (which, remember is for EVERYONE'S benefit) automatically deserves a reward. Sometimes you have to do the right thing because it's the right thing. And that is the only reward you get for it.

Op I think your being too generalised assuming loads had final pension scheme as I said my parents in their 60's they have no private pension at all , and my aunties and uncles bone had final pension scheme either .they have worked all their lives and had good times and bad times , different generations different challenges in an evolving world.

You most be joking? My husband's grandparents made in most recent history the most contribution to this country.
The lived thru two wars, grew up to live thru the war. Went to war, lost loved ones. Rationing, hunger and 6 years of terror not a few months. Children grew up without their fathers and nobody knew how they were for months at the time.
Millennial have it a lot easier than we did the only difference is that we still had the attitude of our parents to save and mend.
We struggled but not like earlier generations. My grandmother born in 1918 did have basics like running water, heating, toilet paper etc.
It makes me angry that you think this generation has it bad. The enjoy luxuries that most people couldn't even dream about.

So. What is a 'young person' OP?

Plenty of affordable housing where I live. They just don’t want to move or make the effort.

Sorry that’s ridiculous

You need to get a grip. University isn't compulsory, DS1 didn't go and at 25 is earning £32k a year. He doesn't want hand outs. He's still working through this crisis and is quite happy to pay his own way in life. He gets sick to the back teeth of being lumped into the same categories of people like this.

DS2 (23) & his girlfriend (24) are both nurses. They were on the verge of buying their first house but now they're working all the hours that they can. They're not after handouts either. They'd like more money to go to the right places in the NHS rather than into the hands of people who are always whining about how bad they have it compared to everyone else.

I do think there is a huge imbalance

How do you think it relates to the current situation though?

Our economy is going to be in a terrible state once this is over. If we didn't have money to provide affordable housing before this, we certainly won't do after.

Hi OP, genuine question, what is the huge sacrifice that the young are making?

@Thornhill58, exactly! What a ridiculous thread!

Undoubtedly, the generation coming of age now have a more challenging outlook in the housing market than their parents and grandparents before them. Short term quality of life has improved - holidays, food, luxuries - but some of the most important elements of life (housing, job security) are more vulnerable ever before. I’m 28 and enjoy the former but worry constantly about the latter.

I do agree that CV will make home ownership even more of a pipe dream than ever for many young people because of the effects on the economy, which is horribly unfair.

Younger people will mostly be rewarded by not dying horrible painful deaths. That's reward enough

They might take the view that they've only postponed them, none of us know what health horrors the future might hold.

To an earlier poster, many the older generation have enjoyed the benefits of a free university education followed by their house value doubling or tripling in certain areas. Again at 28, this will never happen for me. And a crippled economy (done for the benefit of the older generation) will make the coming decades harder still.

Its not a blame game, but it’s tough.

Erm no.

Younger people aren't making any more of a sacrifice than any other age group.

And if their houses go into negative equity then I suppose they'll do what those in other age groups do and just live in them.