Lisa Valentine explains why she is supporting National World's 'Project Peter Pan'. She has two grown up daughters living with her who feel they have no hope of getting on the property ladder.
Project Peter Pan - launched as the UK heads toward a general election in 2024 - aims to use our collective local media power online to give a voice to those in their 20s and 30s who have negotiated a pandemic, work hard and are ambitious, yet are lost.
Project Peter Pan - launched as the UK heads toward a general election in 2024 - aims to use our collective local media power online to give a voice to those in their 20s and 30s who have negotiated a pandemic, work hard and are ambitious, yet are lost.
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00:00 My name is Lisa Valentine and I'm supporting National World as part of their Project Peter Pan campaign.
00:06 The state of the private rental sector at the moment is incredibly unpredictable.
00:10 House prices in Manchester have doubled in the past 10 years and if we carry on in a similar trajectory,
00:16 younger people have got no chance of owning their own properties in the near future.
00:19 I feel that young people are often branded lazy and entitled completely unfairly.
00:23 They're not asking for much.
00:25 It now costs more than 8 times the salary to buy a home in the UK compared to 2.4 times in 1971.
00:33 One of the reasons I've chosen to support the campaign is that I see the impact of this first hand on a daily basis.
00:39 I have two daughters who are in their 20s.
00:41 They both work full time, they're good with money, they budget, they put money away every month in lieu of rent
00:47 and yet they still cannot afford to leave home.
00:49 We have four adults living under one roof now.
00:52 Luckily we all have a great relationship but it does lead to things like a lack of privacy,
00:56 a lack of independence for them as well.
00:59 They're getting frustrated, they're in their mid-20s and still cannot afford to privately rent a loan or buy a home.
01:04 When you throw in the fact that buying a home as a single person, without the bank of mum and dad,
01:08 or without any generational wealth or inheritance is nearly impossible,
01:12 you can appreciate why they might be a little bit jaded.
01:15 My daughters have most of the responsibilities of adulthood but without any of the benefits at the moment.
01:21 A lot of younger people in their 20s and even early 30s are doing what they were told was the right thing.
01:26 So they are getting educated, they're getting good careers, they're saving money
01:30 and still living in their parents' spare bedrooms.
01:33 It shouldn't be like that.
01:34 I think it's really important for us to recognise as a society that the housing market, rental and private and to buy,
01:41 has changed so much in the past 10 years that it's really unfair to cast judgement on these people that are really struggling.
01:47 Campaigns like Project Peter Pan are so important to help elevate the millions of voices and people in similar situations across the UK at the moment.
01:55 We need to stand together and call for urgent action on the housing crisis.
01:59 You can read my full story on the Manchester World website.