MMelecs :
I think you’re overlooking quite a big distinction here.The idea that future generations are inevitably going to end up as homeless pensioners because they can’t afford to buy a house assumes that home ownership is the only route to having security in retirement. It isn’t.We’ve already built a society where a significant proportion of people rent throughout their lives, and there is a substantial welfare and housing-support system underneath that. Pensioners who rent aren’t simply expected to carry a full market rent indefinitely with no safety net. Pension Credit exists for people on low incomes, and Housing Benefit can help pensioners with their rent. In fact, around 85% of pensioners who were entitled to Housing Benefit claimed it in the latest DWP figures.And that’s why I think the “if your parents don’t give you a deposit, you’ll never own a house” argument needs more nuance too.
There is a massive difference between a single-income household, a lone-parent household, and a two-parent household where both adults are working. Two incomes, two sets of earning capacity, two potential pensions, the ability to save simultaneously, and potentially family assistance with a deposit completely change the economics of home ownership.
Likewise, having children in a lone-parent household doesn’t automatically mean someone is going to be homeless in old age. The state provides a safety net precisely because not everyone will own property.
Where I do agree is that home ownership gives you a major advantage in retirement. If you’ve paid off a mortgage, you can reach retirement without a monthly housing cost anywhere near equivalent to market rent. A renter doesn’t get that advantage.But that’s actually a different argument from saying that people who don’t buy are destined to become homeless pensioners.
The more interesting question ishow many people will reach retirement as renters, what income will they have, what housing costs will they face, and how much of those costs will the state ultimately have to support?
That’s a much more complicated and much more interestingproblem than simply saying “ can’t buy houses, therefore we’ll have millions of homeless “
2026-09-10 00:02:36