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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/live/2016/aug/04/is-it-time-to-abandon-the-dream-of-owning-a-home-live
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| Is it time to abandon the dream of owning a home? – live | Is it time to abandon the dream of owning a home? – live |
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| 11.58am BST | |
| 11:58 | |
| Is it time to abandon dream of owning a home? | |
| Penny Anderson | |
| Sadly, the answer is yes: it is time to abandon all hope of owning your own home. Not because life would not be greatly enhanced if you could (and you’d be liberated from the relief of random escalating rent rises). The dream is over because it is impossible for most people not from a privileged background to afford it. It is over for those too old to get a mortgage and dead for anyone without a massive deposit. The fantasy of owning a home has vanished for those enduring precarious freelancing, long-term chronic illness or disability, self-employment, low pay and zero-hours contracts. Why not then accept the dream is dead, buried and rotting? Never owning a home shouldn’t matter, except renting is horrible. Remedy the end of the dream by building masses of well-designed houses suitable for a variety of tenants including families and older people, ideally social housing. Then improve renting’s inherent destabilising insecurity: assume tenancies last for decades (or even life) with proper rent controls enforced by resurrecting rent tribunals. End revenge evictions. Rogue landlords? They forfeit the property. Perhaps then the death of our homing owning fantasy won’t hurt quite so much. | |
| 10.42am BST | 10.42am BST |
| 10:42 | 10:42 |
| Welcome to our debate | Welcome to our debate |
| Sarah Marsh | Sarah Marsh |
| Will I ever be able to afford my own home? It’s a question that plagues a generation of young people, and now evidence shows how few people are getting on the property ladder: home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years. | Will I ever be able to afford my own home? It’s a question that plagues a generation of young people, and now evidence shows how few people are getting on the property ladder: home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years. |
| The reasons behind our inability to own a home are clear (there is a huge gap between earnings and property prices), but what can be done about it is less certain. | The reasons behind our inability to own a home are clear (there is a huge gap between earnings and property prices), but what can be done about it is less certain. |
| What we do know is that it’s now not just a problem in London – according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank, Greater Manchester is also seeing as big a slump in ownership since its peak in the early 2000s. Other areas are also seeing sharp drops. | What we do know is that it’s now not just a problem in London – according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank, Greater Manchester is also seeing as big a slump in ownership since its peak in the early 2000s. Other areas are also seeing sharp drops. |
| The Resolution Foundation said home ownership across England reached a peak in April 2003 (when 71% of households owned their home) either outright or with a mortgage, but by February this year the figure had fallen to 64%. | The Resolution Foundation said home ownership across England reached a peak in April 2003 (when 71% of households owned their home) either outright or with a mortgage, but by February this year the figure had fallen to 64%. |
| So, what can be done? This week Jonn Elledge, editor of the New Statesman’s cities site, argued that we’ve been obsessed with house buying since the days of Margaret Thatcher, but those days are long gone. He says, instead, we should focus on improving the option of renting (making tenancies were longer and tenants’ rights stronger) so it’s more appealing. | So, what can be done? This week Jonn Elledge, editor of the New Statesman’s cities site, argued that we’ve been obsessed with house buying since the days of Margaret Thatcher, but those days are long gone. He says, instead, we should focus on improving the option of renting (making tenancies were longer and tenants’ rights stronger) so it’s more appealing. |
| However, some people writing beneath the piece disagreed. One commenter said: “A person should own their home and have the right to do pretty much whatever they want with it, which doesn’t happen when renting and someone else owns and can make rules and demand payment every month in exchange for a roof over one’s head. That needs to be a basic right, not even something to discuss.” | However, some people writing beneath the piece disagreed. One commenter said: “A person should own their home and have the right to do pretty much whatever they want with it, which doesn’t happen when renting and someone else owns and can make rules and demand payment every month in exchange for a roof over one’s head. That needs to be a basic right, not even something to discuss.” |
| So what do you think? Should we offer a variety of tenure options instead of obsessing over home ownership or is this an idea people should not give up on? | So what do you think? Should we offer a variety of tenure options instead of obsessing over home ownership or is this an idea people should not give up on? |
| Join us from 12pm-2pm today to debate the future of housing. You can also share your views in the form below. | Join us from 12pm-2pm today to debate the future of housing. You can also share your views in the form below. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.19am BST | at 11.19am BST |