HOUSING
One in six young people are living in damp and dangerous homes
More than two million young people are living in poor-quality housing and it’s hurting their health and hitting their wallets.
The independent think tank Resolution Foundation issued the warning after data from a new YouGov survey of 10,122 adults revealed one in six people aged between 18 and 34 were living in damp and dangerous homes, amounting to 2.6 million people in the UK.
The proportion is triple the rate of people aged 45 and over facing similar issues. Just six per cent of over-45s reported living in poor-quality housing, while for over-65s that dropped to just three per cent.
Young people are currently facing the dual issue of paying over the odds for poor homes, according to Lalitha Try, economist at the Resolution Foundation.
“The UK is blighted by two housing crises. High housing costs are causing many renters in particular to fall behind on housing payments, while poor-quality housing is leaving millions of people having to deal with damp and malfunctioning heating, plumbing and electrics,” said Try.
“It is critical that policy makers tackle both of these crises – by building new affordable housing, and improving the quality of the housing stock we already have.”
Meanwhile, people from Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds were most affected by horror homes. More than a third of households from these communities reported
