To think this is a ticking time bomb (people priced out of housing)

[Batmanisreal]

It’s becoming clear that there is a problem with people not being able to afford housing like they used to be able to. This has been made worse by the introduction of right to buy by Thatcher in the 80s which reduced the numbers of council houses. The price of housing is going up and up, so more people are having to rent on the private market.

So what happens to these people who are privately renting homes, when they get to retirement age? If they can’t afford their rent?

I was lucky enough to be able to buy my house. I have young children who, by the time they get to the age I was when I bought my house, will probably not be able to afford to buy like I was. There’s a very big chance they will have to rent, possibly for the rest of their lives.

People who rent on the private market are at the mercy of whatever rents the landlords want to charge for those properties. And with more properties being rent out as short-term lets this is only going to make the situation worse.

I worry that we are heading for a situation where elderly people will end up on the streets, because there won’t be enough affordable or social housing to supply them with housing if they become homeless in the event of them not being able to afford their private rent anymore.

As a parent, I just find the whole situation so depressing.

But whenever someone mentions increasing IHT etc or means testing state pension there is outrage.

I lurk on a LL forum and I was recently reading a piece about the issue of older renters who are pensioners. Now arguably people of working age can increase their income by looking for a better job, or doing a side hustle. These avenues are not open to many older people who may have health problems. One landlord said

I am not interested in the personal circumstances of my tenants

another

Anyone who did not buy a house back in the 1980s when they were cheap is feckless.

The argument being that landlording is a "business" and they were entitled to maximise their profits to charge market rates. This is corrupt control of a scarce and essential resource.

If Tesco raise their prices I can shop in Lidl, batch cook or cook from scratch to save money. If Eon raise their prices I can put on more warm clothes and take other measures to save on heating. Moving house to some other property is expensive and not so easy.

Yes, and also because our population has risen by several million over the last five years. That's had a major impact. Great for landlords and housebuilding companies who can charge eye-watering rents and prices. But a disaster for our country.

At the moment older people can claim Housing Benefit if they are on a low income. This will be capped by the Local Homes Allowance limit if the rent privately but older people continue to get the spare rooms subsidy (ie they don’t have misnomered “bedroom tax” applied)

Yes, I agree. Now I'm seeing lots of tents popping up in local parks, public gardens etc in the city where I live. Or people living in vans parked on city streets. It's a real eyesore and a hygiene problem as they're using the green space around them as a toilet.

You never used to see this. It's a real sign of decline and dysfunction.

I think the trouble with people going 'Oh, it'll all be sorted out with the boomers die and their kids inherit their houses' is several-fold:

• It's not usually a 1:1 transfer, most of the time it'll be split at least two ways
• Some people's assets may be considerably eaten into by care costs
• The 'kids' will most likely be in their 50s or more, unless the property goes to the grandkids (my parents are leaving their home to our kids, but that will mean a 5-way split between all grandchildren, again, not a 1:1 transfer and again, my kids could still be in their mid to late 30s when they lose all their grandparents)
• Not all homes will be that marketable or easy to sell

To be honest, what I see is a massive welfare bill, and if that gets cut due to unaffordability, which it will, tent cities popping up all over the place and living in vans becoming commonplace.

Only the better off will be able to insulate themselves from this by living in better off neighbourhoods or possibly gated communities.

This is where we're headed if appropriate action isn't taken.

I live in a cheaper area. I’m in my forties, everyone I know owns property and my children who are early twenties each own a property, this is fairly normal. I suspect I have more disposable income than a lot of middle class people at the moment. But I do wonder what the future will look like, if property becomes unaffordable everywhere something will have to give.

I saw some stats the other day about pensioners in rented accommodation and the numbers are projected to rise enormously from around a couple of million to around five million in the next 15 years, effectively trippling, due both to increased population getting old, and an increase in middle aged people still renting which is likely to mean they'll still be renting upon retirement. Lots of those will need to be on housing benefits to be able to afford the rent. It's very worrying and another thing that politicians are just not addressing.

Local housing allowance rates are still being paid at the same rate as they were 10 plus years ago. So they mostly don’t cover the cost of rent or even half cover it.

I’m confident that no government is going to allow 80 year olds to sleep on park benches. It’s silly to continue to blame Thatcher for the selling off of council houses as being the cause of today’s problems. Subsequent governments have had the chance to reverse that over the last 40 years, either by building further houses or curbing immigration. The current governments plans to take away lots of rights from Landlords is also decreasing private rentals.

This. There are a lot of elderly people sitting on housing “wealth” but, round where I live, there are a lot of lovely houses owned by retired teachers and university lecturers that people in those professions would never be able to afford to buy now. I’m not sure who is going to be able to buy those houses when their owners die. The prices must surely come down then.

Successive governments have relied on immigration due to ageing population issues. Another issue with the changing demographics is a lot of people will vote for short term policies that just benefit them.

I agree about subsequent governments not addressing the issue. But we also have to remember that the public voted for the council house sell off - Thatcher didn't do it in a vacuum - it was a very popular policy at the time.

Yes, people vote for self interest rather than the common good, like the council house sell off (at mega discounts), personal windfalls from privatisation of utilities and demutualisations of building societies/insurers, etc., and of course voting for parties offering income tax cuts.

DH has a friend who is in his early sixties and is living in a house share. He works full time (45 hours a week), is paid more than minimum wage. 1 bed flats are very thin on the ground and 2 beds would be £1300-1500 here so not affordable for him. He's never married, grew up in a council house so no inheritance, no children.

He will remain in a house share until he either becomes sufficiently ill or disabled to be offered a place in warden controlled, or he dies.

His current house mates are all younger than him, but in one house share he was in his two housemates were of similar age, divorced guys where the money hadn't run to two separate properties after the divorce.

At the moment it is a phenomenon affecting divorced or single men, women and families are more likely to qualify for some help- however, this can mean a long period in temporary accommodation here so not necessarily that different.

I expect it to become more of an issue in the future, affecting more women and couples, not sure what the answer is.

What's your point? We all know that there are plenty of pensioners who are struggling and are housed.

People aren’t affording it though. They are topped up with housing benefit, and more and more people will end up needing housing benefit. So the public get poorer, while the multi investment landlords are running their hands with glee.

Right to but was/is a great system if the same money is then used to build more houses.

Landlords are certainly part of the problem, but this parasitic lifestyle was incentivized by government policies.

I think people are expecting to buy a house on their own in their twenties and that’s asking a lot. They should flat share and have fun for a bit and then buy a house jointly when there are two wages paying for it.

I don't get why first time buyers can't buy. My DS is looking to buy his first flat. About £110k. He earns £28k. He'll need 5% deposit. He's working extra shifts, not going out, not buying any new clothes, no take away, not replacing his own phone and despite paying currently £800 a month in rent, he's managing to save a few £100s months. He should get there by summer time. He'll be eligible to borrow

It will be a very small flat, in a just about okay area, but it will be a step on the ladder. So why can't others do the same?

I don’t know anyone who has only one child!

Yes because people have to live somewhere.

Not just the UK though.

Last year on holiday we were talking to some people from Germany who mentioned how difficult it was for their adult children to buy anywhere. Then this year we got to know a young Dutch man, in his 20s, who basically said he had given up on the idea of ever being able to afford his own place so he had decided to spend his savings on a gap year instead.

Can't but anything for £110k or rent even a room for £800 where I live. So thats why some young people struggle.