Generation Rent Research Articles

Security of Tenure for Generation Rent: Irish and Scottish Approaches

As fewer people are able to make the transition into home ownership, more New Zealand households do not have adequate security of tenure due to the lack of durational protections in the Residential Tenancies Act 1986. This article shows that Ireland and Scotland are comparable jurisdictions that have moved to regimes providing durational protections to residential tenants, allowing them to choose to remain in their home for a specified number of years or indefinitely, subject to a limited set of grounds for which the landlord may terminate the tenancy. We should consider these examples and take steps to provide greater durational protections, so that more New Zealanders may have homes that provide them with stable foundations on which they may build their lives.

Social Disparities in Private Renting Amongst Young Families in England and Wales, 2001-2011

In Britain, the proportion of young families living in the private rented sector (PRS) has risen sharply in recent years. There is mounting concern that this trend could be particularly pronounced amongst less advantaged young families, who may be disproportionately channelled into relatively costly, insecure and lower quality accommodation in the PRS by growing difficulties accessing other tenures. In consequence, this paper uses the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study of England and Wales to compare how family structure and socio-economic characteristics shaped rates of private renting amongst young adults heading families in 2001 and 2011. The results show that social disparities generally increased during this period as private renting expanded most rapidly amongst some types of lone parent and amongst young adults heading couple families with a less advantaged class position. Increasing housing inequalities between young people may thus be as much a feature of “Generation Rent” as deepening divides between generations.

‘Generation rent’ and the ability to ‘settle down’: economic and geographical variation in young people’s housing transitions

ABSTRACTThe term ‘Generation Rent’ denotes young people who are increasingly living in the private rented sector for longer periods of their lives because they are unable to access homeownership or social housing. Drawing on qualitative data from two studies with young people and key-actors, this paper considers the phenomenon of ‘Generation Rent’ from the perspective of youth transitions and the concept of ‘home’. These frameworks posit that young people leaving the parental home traverse housing and labour markets until they reach a point of ‘settling down’. However, our data indicate that many young people face difficulties in this ‘settling’ process as they have to contend with insecure housing, unstable employment and welfare cuts which often force them to be flexible and mobile. This leaves many feeling frustrated as they struggle to remain fixed in place in order to ‘settle down’ and benefit from the positive qualities of home. Taking a Scottish focus, this paper further highlights the geographical dimension to these challenges and argues that those living in expensive and/or rural areas may find it particularly difficult to settle down.

Putting the Squeeze on ‘Generation Rent’: Housing Benefit Claimants in the Private Rented Sector - Transitions, Marginality and Stigmatisation

The term ‘Generation Rent’ has gained currency in recent years to reflect the fact that more 25 to 34 year olds in Britain now live in rented accommodation rather than owner-occupation. The term also conveys the extent to which age-related divisions in the housing market are becoming as significant as longer standing tenure divisions. However, this portmanteau term covers a wide array of different housing circumstances - from students, young professionals and transient households to the working and non-working poor. This paper focuses on the position of a specific category of this age cohort - those 25 to 34 year olds living in self-contained accommodation in the private rented sector who are in receipt of Housing Benefit. On the basis of survey evidence and qualitative interviews with landlords and housing advisers, the paper considers how the marginal economic and housing market position of this age group is being reinforced by the stigmatising attitudes of landlords which formerly applied to tenants in their late teens and early 20s and are now being extended further along the age band. The paper suggests that the use of a ‘housing pathways’ approach to signify the housing transitions of young adults needs to be revisited, to give greater weight to collective and creative responses to constraints in the housing market and to recognise the key role played by gatekeepers such as landlords in stigmatising groups according to assumed age-related attributes.

Younger Adults and Homeownership in Europe Through the Global Financial Crisis

AbstractIn the context of poorly performing national economies and sustained employment insecurity since the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2008, various UK and US studies have suggested that the transitions of younger people into independent living and into homeownership, in particular, have been in decline. Testing the wider validity of these findings for western European countries, this paper uses cross‐sectional European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions data to deconstruct to what extent and on which basis pre‐crisis to post‐crisis changes in the living arrangements of 18–34‐year olds have varied across 15 European Union countries. Our results confirm a common trend towards diminishing access to homeownership, bringing about larger rental sectors in many countries. Yet, we are far from observing the rise of a ‘Generation Rent’, because the stronger transformation process is one towards a higher share of younger adults living in co‐residence with their parents. Our empirical study further demonstrates that the directions of these shifts may vary strongly across countries, where the crisis has in some cases undermined existing residential patterns and forced realignment in the living arrangements among younger generations. Moreover, the study suggests that, although higher post‐crisis declines in young‐age homeownership is also associated with adverse labour market conditions, it seems to be primarily the volatility of more financialised housing markets that lead to increasing difficulties for younger people to realise housing property ownership. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effect of Second Generation Rent Controls on the Quality of Rental Housing

Microeconomic theory predicts that rent controls will lead to greater housing quality deterioration than would have been the case in an uncontrolled market. However, empirical analyses of rent control have concentrated on income distribution effects. This study tests the hypothesis of quality deterioration using a two period linked sample of dwelling units drawn from eight Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas, half of which have rent control laws. The results indicate that quality was 7.1% lower in controlled markets in 1974, and 13.5% lower in 1977. Slow, cumulative effects of deferred maintenance may be responsible for the more pronounced 1977 results.