Holy Housing

Home ownership can provide benefits to people. Being a home-owner can increase the sense of security. For many, owning a home is their one real chance of increasing their personal wealth. Others think that at least they have something to show for their money, compared to renting, which is seen by some as simply ‘throwing money away.’

Yet while home ownership in Britain is increasing, many people believe that Britain is in the middle of a housing crisis. In the face of unprecedented housing wealth – estimated to be £3.4 trillion (a trebling over the last 10 years), we need to ask why

• Owner-occupation is the most common tenure of people living in poverty
• 7% of homeowners do not find home ownership affordable
• Personal unsecured debt in Britain is twice the European average
• Debt in Britain has increased by 118% over the past 10 years
• Birth rates in Britain are continuing to fall
• 54% of people would leave Britain if they could
• While we may be richer we are less happy than we were

Successive governments have overseen and encouraged an irresponsible and unsustainable housing market. The deregulation of the financial services industry has meant that people can take on more debt than ever before. The sale of council houses has lead to a severe shortage of quality, secure rented accommodation. This coupled with the stigmatisation of renting has promoted home-ownership as the only real choice and this has further increased demand for houses to buy. The perception of a house as an investment, rather than a home, has in turn created a skewed and unrealistic attitude towards wealth-creation. People are desperate to get on the housing ladder and are fearful of being left behind.

The impact will be greatest on the children of today as they grow up into adulthood. Those with little or no housing wealth will be so seriously disadvantaged that it is unlikely that they will be able to work themselves out of the situation. This means that it will be even harder for children from poorer backgrounds to get on in life. It is now becoming clear that the divide between those with high levels of housing wealth and those without is reaching the level of disparity in Victorian times.