The Liberal Democrats have proposed introducing a loan to help people onto the rental market.
Jo Swinson outlined plans included in the party’s manifesto, saying the initiative will “reform the private rental sector” by giving all first-time renters under 30 tenancy deposit loans to help get into the market.
The move has stirred furious backlash on Twitter from people bewildered that the notion of renting is becoming a far-flung dream.
A loan to rent. A LOAN to RENT. A LOAN TO RENT. A. LOAN. TO. RENT. https://t.co/tLFfOypoKB
— Gav Maclean (@gavmaclean) November 24, 2019
Home ownership
It comes as studies suggest home ownership among young adults has “collapsed” in recent years, halving in the past 20 years according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The IFS said young adults from wealthy backgrounds are now significantly more likely than others to own their own home.
Between 2014 and 2017 roughly 30 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds whose parents were in lower-skilled jobs such as delivery drivers or sales assistants owned their own home, versus 43 per cent for the children of those in higher-skilled jobs such as lawyers and teachers.
Labour pledges
Elsewhere, Labour has promised a spree of house building, the largest since the 1960s, with a £75 billion plan to construct 150,000 homes a year, with 100,000 of them built by councils.
Non-homeowners would see rental caps and open-ended tenancies, under a Corbyn-led administration.
And a £1 billion fire safety fund would be introduced to fit sprinklers and other safety measures in council and housing association tower blocks to avoid a repeat of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Conservative pledges
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have pledged to bring their Social Housing White Paper forward which will “set out further measures to empower tenants and support the continued supply of social homes”.
The manifesto said they will commit to renewing the Affordable Homes Programme, in order to support the delivery of hundreds of thousands of affordable homes.
The party also pledges to “end the blight of rough sleeping”.
Related: London tenant unable to heat home after landlord cages thermostat