This Morning agony aunt, Denise Robertson, worries for the 'live in' generations forced to return to their parents' houses, and those younger people who simply don't have the prospect of owning their own homes. She wonders how the government will put an end to phenomenal house prices and help young people to achieve the dream of owning the roof over their head.
Denise Robertson
Planning my first marriage to Alex Robertson in the sixties, it never occurred to me that we wouldn't be able to own our own home. That first house was a pretty semi-detached with a lovely garden in a nice street. It cost £2,200 - well within my Merchant Navy husband's reach. We were utterly happy there. Money was tight. I cut old A-line dresses into the new straighter shape to save buying new, but we managed. Last time this house was for sale, in 2013, the asking price for it was an incredible £190,000. Thankfully my five sons were all able to get onto the property ladder but what will happen to my grandchildren?
If house prices rise in the next 30 years as they have in the last 30, the average UK home will be worth £1.2 million. The chronic shortage of housing is fuelling that rise. We currently only build half the number of homes we need. How will my grandchildren manage? There is no certainty for them. Although they are all hard-working at school or in jobs, I worry for our future generations.
Research from the National Housing Federation shows the income of the average first-time buyer today is nearly double that of an average first-time buyer in the early 1980s after accounting for inflation. And the deposit required today (£30,000) is almost ten times the deposit required in the early 1980s (around £3,000) also after accounting for inflation.
The one thing the politicians can do is make sure there are enough houses to go round. That will put an end to crazy prices and bring back that dream of all newly-weds - a home of their own. Just like I had.
And yet, what is more important to family life than a secure, affordable home? I've lost the roof over my head twice. The first time I was three months old. My elder sister, Joyce, Mum and Dad were living in Sunderland. Our lovely house was repossessed because my father's business had crashed. Most of our furniture was taken by the bailiffs. I have a little chair which they didn't take as my mother had been sitting on it. It's a symbol to me of how our family kept going. Thankfully we were given a council house, three bedrooms and a pleasant garden, where I grew up very happily. We were poor but our house was full of love. My parents adored each other.
The second time, I was 40 years old, the mother of five and this time it was my husband's business which had failed. Our bank manager loaned me, a struggling freelance writer, two thousand pounds as a deposit on a vandalised terraced house. The front window was boarded up but that house was our salvation. Over time we did it up and made it a comfortable home, but imagine the situation now. Neither of those lifelines exist today. My family would either be put on a long waiting list for social housing and be given either a B&B or a grotty private rental. As a harassed and busy mother of five, there's no way in the circumstances I was in that I'd get an advance of tens of thousands as a deposit, which is what you would need today. It would be too big a risk.
I've been the agony aunt for This Morning since the first programme in 1988. Every week, at This Morning or my other columns, I hear from people in fear of losing their homes. That's if they have one! Too many are living in sub-standard private rental accommodation, even, in one case, existing in the back seat of a car. What do I say to the veteran of several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who bought a house ready for leaving the Regular Army? He was confident he'd walk into a job on release but there were no jobs. He couldn't keep up the mortgage and now he, his wife and four children are destined for the street. Heart breaking.
Too many young couples are 'living in' with parents in order to save for a deposit. Peoples' housing needs are individual and need individual solutions, as I well know. I support the Homes for Britain campaign to bring an end to the housing crisis within a generation. The one thing the politicians can do is make sure there are enough houses to go round. That will put an end to crazy prices and bring back that dream of all newly-weds - a home of their own. Just like I had.
Homes for Britain is a campaign calling for the end of the housing crisis within a generation. For more information and ways to get involved visit their website.
By Denise Robertson
Twitter: @HomesforBritain
You had no curtains, but you had a video camera, soontobe? 
I suppose it's always going to be a case of individual priorities when it comes to saving money.
I can only comment on my own family, my two children are far better of in many ways than we were when we were their age. They live in much ,more expensive houses and have a far better standard of living that we had.
OK we helped them through Uni which has set them up to earn good salaries (even allowing for inflation 2-3 times what I earned at their age) and they have disposable income at he end of each month, a luxury we have only had since we retired.
I mistrust any statistics, they can be presented in too many misleading ways, especially if politically motivated.
Off to the pub for dinner now - holiday starts here - under orders to leave GN alone for a week 
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