Received from: TUC Young Workers' Conference
Conference notes that:
i. the severe housing crisis affecting workers across the UK, especially young, low-paid and disabled workers
ii. in 2023, 54 per cent of adults aged 20-34 lived with parents, over half a million people were in rent arrears and one in four faced eviction
iii. young people and low- to middle-income families struggle to secure a decent home, with many unable to afford rent or save for a deposit. Young workers are being priced out of adequate housing as private rents have soared far beyond wage growth, with many spending over half of their income on rent alone.
iv. insecure short-term tenancies, sudden rent hikes, and the constant threat of no-fault evictions all create intolerable stress and instability. At the same time, millions live in cold, damp, poorly maintained properties while rogue landlords face few consequences and local authorities lack resources to enforce existing standards
v. UK average house prices are approximately nine times the average salary.
vi. the average mean age of first-time buyers in England between 2023-24 was 34 years old, rising to 35 in London
vii. social housing is often completely unattainable for many vulnerable young people and temporary accommodation remains one of the highest costs for local councils
viii. a chronic shortage of social and genuinely affordable housing has driven up rents and prices, increasing overcrowding, evictions, arrears, and homelessness.
Conference believes that safe, affordable and secure housing is a basic right and a foundation for a decent life. The broken private rental market is failing an entire generation, forcing young workers into debt, overcrowding, or delaying milestones such as starting families or saving for the future. Without urgent reform, home ownership will remain an impossible dream for most under 35.
Conference welcomes:
a. the government’s ambition to build 1.5 million new homes.
b. the government’s plans to ensure stability around social rents and for greater investment in social and affordable housing, as part of their long-term housing strategy.
Conference notes:
1. the government’s 300,000-homes-a-year target is repeatedly unmet
2. inadequate government investment in social housing, reduced council capacity to build, the impact of Right to Buy, more than 1.1 million households on waiting lists, weak regulation of the private rented sector, high housing costs, poor housing quality, and the harmful impact of housing benefit cuts on vulnerable people.
We call upon the TUC Young Workers Committee to:
I. campaign for nationwide rent controls
II. campaign to abolish ‘Section 21 no-fault’ evictions
III. enforce heavy penalties for those providing unsafe or substandard homes
IV. call for urgent investment in a national housebuilding programme and resolve to work with trade unions and housing bodies to expand affordable supply.
Conference believes that a key requirement of any affordable housing strategy must be the implementation of the mass building of high-quality affordable council housing and the establishment of publicly owned and controlled housing building capacity so that housing policy cannot be dictated to by private house building corporations and developers.
V. support a Right to Buy moratorium
VI. campaign for strengthen regulation and redress
VII. prioritise housing costs in wage bargaining
VIII. work with the UK and devolved governments to:
− ensure that a good proportion of new housing stock is affordable to young people
− develop strategies with local authorities to deliver more good quality social housing for vulnerable young people
− develop new programmes to help support young people in saving for a deposit for their first home
− deposit for their first home.
TUC Young Workers Conference