To feel there is no future for children unless they

[Honeyyourfamilar]

unless they start a business or are super academic or excel in their careers.

I grew up in a working class neighbourhood in London (zone 6 so maybe not London London) and so many of the parents were normal working class people who owned their own homes: postman, bus drivers, dinner ladies, mechanics. There was a couple who both worked in supermarkets and they owned their own home. In a few families only the bloke worked and that was enough to sustain the family - I am maybe showing my age.

These were people in their early 30s who were financially secure. Now those houses are worth £500k plus and there is no way someone working a low paid job could afford that.

Two people making £30k a year will get £240k mortgage, where is the other amount going to come from?

I think that young people don't have a future here anyone.

The only way someone who isn't earning a decent wage can afford to buy a house is if they get an inheritance or if their parents sell their £500k house, that they purchased for £30k, and downsize, and give a deposit to their kids.

The amount of families renting and dependent on housing benefit is just a disgrace. It also means people stay in horrible relationships because they cannot afford to leave.

This country is a ***.

Not in UK or IE but similar issues with property prices. Our plan is to eventually downsize and provide deposits for DCs, they’re very young now but we’d like to provide them with capital and a village if that’s what they want/ need in the future. To be honest I would appreciate the village more than the capital in my own situation so I think that’s even more important.

I lived in London for decades and at least half of my neighbours were not born and bred Londoners.

@picturethispatsy

this might interest you

jtojhumanrights.org.uk/local-stories/local-stories-posts/st-anns-poverty-in-the-1960s/#:~:text=Over%20half%20the%20houses%20had,a%20man%20could%20crawl%20through'.

They will just run away, those with 10+ mil, they won't be amenable to getting robbed, not in the current climate where people are openly ripping off the system and refuse to work. But methodologically I agree with you, totally. But they would run away, that is the problem.

Yes, I worry about these too as I have two daughters. It's difficult for women to break into that world.

I think we do need to start putting pressure on the government properly around housing.

But so many don't want this as they benefit I know loads of people my parents age with more than 1 property.

They need to work hard.

YANBU in that many stable, well paid working class skilled jobs no longer exist. Or that house prices are now insane and forcing people out of London etc.

However council housing was designed for low waged working class people - the great crime was after selling it off Thatcher stopped councils using the money to rebuild the supply. So everyone is in private rented and the state pays a fortune out in housing benefit.

We need mass building of quality social housing so postmen and supermarket workers can have a decent family home, security and at a sustainable rent they can afford.

This is a global problem, op, not just the UK. However we have had similar in the past and survived. Children and young people have more opportunities than ever now, not just for academic pursuits but skills training. As long as they are motivated and have a level of ambition, they can do well. I know I am quite impressed with many young people I know.

If we stop having kids, or deliberately limit ourselves to one child, we end up with a society where more immigration is required to prop up the labour market and contribute income tax. So we get identical pressures on housing, nhs, etc.

@IrritatedEarthling

There are already more families with 1 dc vs 2 dc and of course not everyone has dc. We do need immigration as we are already at that point with more over 65s than under 15s.

Living at home to save a deposit is a pretty big help.

You should recognise it as such.

However we have had similar in the past and survived.

the difference is we never had the demographic factors.

Priceless !

Love it !

😂

You forgot to mention that we all live in council flats with widescreen TVs that take up all of one wall of our lounge.
The hairstyle of choice for women over 40 is curlers covered incompletely with a headscarf, accessorized with a fag hanging out of the side of the mouth, dropping ash on a huge overhanging belly.
Mothers go shopping with 3 kids jammed in a two seater buggy and plastic bags full of Diamond White cans hanging off the handles. Lunch is obtained from the local Church food bank which they complain is full of items they don't know how to cook (like baked beans).
Days are spent at local playgrounds where kids spend their time trying to push other kids off the roundabout and hitting them. Mothers sit and smoke and shout helpful instructions like "Get down you stupid little b@$£@rd or I'll burst you ! " and the unbiquitous "If you break your leg don't come running to me ! "

It's a hard life up here....

I can’t wait for all the midlanders and northerners to start complaining that their house prices have been pushed up by those bloody southerners and that their children can’t afford to buy in their home towns. What will be the advice then? Move to Scotland?

House prices are extortionate. Some people can’t ’just move’ as it isn’t always easy to find a job and they might have extended family commitments. Those who currently live in less expensive areas may realise this sooner than they think as young people migrate from London and the South East.

How we ended up in Wales - which has ups and downs that come with that.

Neither me or my siblings, who stayed in area, could/can afford to buy in bit of midlands we grew up in. In fact only ones I grew up with who could have no kids and two incomes.

I was not planning to provide advice with my message. It was just a fact observation.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens have been around 200,000 years. Before the Ice Age (20,000 years ago) , the life expectancy was 30 years. Then things got a bit better until the 1800s when the life expectancy increased to a whopping 40 years.
As of 2024, the average life expectancy in the UK is about 81 years.
All things considered, we are in a better place that the vast majority human population has ever been.
So don't lose perspective and count your blessings.

In the south of England and was going to post exactly this. People are DESPERATE to find decent reliable tradesmen and will pay for their services especially if they offer (and charge for) extras like moving and replacing furniture, and doing minor jobs along with a bigger one.

We all have no jobs, live off benefits and reside in mud huts with no electricity or running water.

Wtf....what an idiotic thing to say, do you think we just live in a hole with no doctors, nurses, engineering, police, shops,schools??
I think 'the north' is doing a lot better than a lot of other places in the country at the minute, we can still live really well on decent wages.
On the other hand you might not be welcome if your that thick and judgemental.

So don't lose perspective and count your blessings.

🙄 so reductive

Again there is a market for female tradies. Personally I am not bothered but a lot of people my age round me especially who live alone would prefer female workers in their homes. I have no idea whether this is justified or not.

And people living till they’re 81 comes at a colossal cost. I don’t know about you but I don’t know a single person in their 80s who doesn’t need at least one medication (which they get for free) to keep going - most have a swathe of medications.

It’s a harsh truth that we can’t shy away from that keeping people alive when nature would have them dead is expensive.

Edited to add - this isn’t just about the elderly. It’s about anyone with a chronic health condition that requires long-term medication.

If everyone did that, the houses wouldn't be 200k.

Anyway dh and I are in our 30s and we own our 2 bed flat in zone 3 london (cost us around 400k) which we bought on 75k combined in 2019 when I was 26 and dh was 29. We are only having one child (dh getting a vasectomy next week) so it works for us.

The problem with moving out of London is that if I do, my salary would drop proportionally and I would still struggle to afford to buy anything decent. And commuting is not an option as its too expensive/ commuter towns as as pricey as London.

Also, my DC loves London. He was born here and is really proud to be a Londoner, he told me he cant imagine living in a small town or a village.