Ed Milliband appears to have woken up this week – too late – to a housing crisis. He echoes his predecessors, who promised too little, too late and failed to deliver. Their lack of ambition will continue to fail the generation who couldn’t buy before the boom. As the IFS reports that even those born in the 60s and 70s are going to be worse off than the post-war generation, it’s no wonder that those in their 20s and 30s are angry.
At the launch of his housing commission this week, Mr Milliband set out five ideas to meet Labour’s headline pledge of 200,000 homes. This is not enough and they know it. Their failed legacy means that the generation who were too young or poor to buy before the turn of the century will see greater divisions between themselves than ever before. Every piece of progressive policy we fight for will be undone by the housing market – if you have parents who can afford to stump up a deposit until you eventually buy an overpriced home somewhere in your mid thirties, you’ll just about be OK.
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