Build the homes we need

Housing is one of the clearest examples of intergenerational unfairness in the UK today.

For older generations, home ownership was a realistic route to security and stability. For younger generations, that route has become far harder. Over the last few decades, house prices have risen far faster than incomes, rents take up an increasing share of monthly pay, and too many young people are being forced to delay moving out, buying a home, starting a family or putting down roots in their communities.

This has happened because, for decades, the UK has failed to build enough homes in the places where people need them. Successive governments have too often relied on policies that stimulate demand, while failing to address the underlying shortage of homes. The result has been higher prices, greater insecurity and a housing market that increasingly works against younger and future generations.

IF’s research has shown how the housing crisis affects both buyers and renters, and how affordability pressures vary across different parts of the country. In many local areas, younger people face a double bind: buying is out of reach, while renting is increasingly expensive and insecure. At the same time, parts of the countryside are ageing much faster than towns and cities, creating growing spatial inequalities between generations.

The UK needs a housing system that gives younger people a fair chance to live independently, build security and contribute to the communities where they want to live. That means building more homes of all types, including affordable and social-rented homes, replacing homes lost through Right to Buy, making better use of existing housing stock, and reforming planning rules so that new homes can be built where they are needed most.

Britain’s housing crisis has been shaped by decades of political choices. Better choices can still deliver a fairer deal for younger and future generations.