Study says housing stress is harming Generation Rent
BRITAIN’S “Generation Rent” suffer mental stress as a result of their housing issues, according to a major study by academics at two Scottish universities.
Being forced to live long-term in private rented housing is impacting negatively on young people’s mental health, the new study has found.
“Generation Rent” is the growing number of young people living in the private rented sector for longer periods of their lives, due to high house prices.
The study, by Dr Kim Mckee from University of Stirling and Dr Adriana Mihaela Soaita at University of Glasgow, highlighted issues in the private rented sector which are having a serious negative impact on the wellbeing of young people, and particularly those on the lowest incomes.
These include problems with insecure, expensive and poor-quality housing, which contribute to feelings of stress, anxiety and depression among young people unable to realise their housing aspirations.
For those on the lowest incomes, these issues can even lead to people becoming homeless, the study found.
The report, titled The Frustrated Housing Aspirations of Generation Rent, makes six key housing policy recommendations, including a call for more affordable housing to be built, both for sale and rent.
It also says tenants should be educated about their rights, and landlords and letting agents required to undertake training on their legal obligations and duties.
Dr Mckee, senior lecturer in social policy and housing at the University of Stirling, said: “The poor experiences reported by the young people in this research is a sad reflection on housing in the UK today.
“Their negative impact on wellbeing, particularly mental health, underlines the need for urgent policy intervention to address the failure of the sector for lower income groups.
“Put simply, for those in low paid and insecure work, social rented housing would provide a better safety net than the private rented sector. We need more social housing to be built, and to stop selling it off by ending the Right to Buy across the UK.”
Dr Mckee said while the situation was better in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK – as recent reforms have provided tenants with greater security of tenancy and more predictable rent increases – there was still more that could be done to improve the situation of Scottish tenants.
She added: “Whilst the recent reforms to the private rented sector in Scotland are to be welcomed, they may not fully address tenants’ concerns about the affordability of private sector rents.”
The study was carried out under the auspices of The UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence.