'Completely unaffordable'

Unite delegate Dara Basketfield moved a motion on the youth housing crisis at TUC Congress on Monday (September 14).

He began his speech by noting that while the housing crisis affects everyone, he added that it has had “a disproportionate impact” on young people.

He told Congress that housing – whether buying or renting – has become “completely unaffordable” and for too many it is “a pipe dream that may never come to fruition”.

Dara went on to highlight times long gone when people could afford to buy a house on one person’s salary. Now, even when couples both work full-time jobs, some even more than 40 hours a week, housing is still out of reach.

He cited statistics showing that more than half of young people aged 20 to 34 still lived at home with their parents, and that for the vast majority, it was not through choice.

Turning to the rental market, Dara noted that in the 1960s, only 8 per cent of the average person’s earnings went to rent, while now, rent eats up well over a third of the average person’s wages.

Dara went on to say that demand for housing is far outstripping supply, and when young people are able to move out from their parents, they face living in substandard, dilapidated accommodation that’s often unsafe to live in.

Young people “accept these conditions because they have no other choice if they want to move out of their parents’ home,” he said.

“We hear people bizarrely blaming young people for not being able to afford their homes, because we apparently spend too much on Netflix, avocados and coffee. To be fair, if we bought coffees from this conference centre on a regular basis, they might have a point,” Dara joked, to laughter in the hall.

“But in all seriousness,” he added, “we’re a generation that just wants to progress and get on with their lives, like the generations before us. We cannot afford homes because our governments have failed us – and it’s as simple as that.”

He added that successive governments have failed to build enough affordable housing, and have failed to regulate exploitative landlords. Concluding, Dara urged trade unionists to support measures highlighted in the motion, such as rent controls, landlord regulation and immediate and sustained investment in affordable housing.

The motion was carried.

By Hajera Blagg

Photo by Mark Thomas