With unemployment, job cuts, wage cuts it is incredibly difficult for the younger generation to currently find work. Many contemplate moving to where there are more jobs in the larger cities, particularly London, but then the cost of living soars. The waiting lists for social housing are massive, rents are constantly rising and even if you decide to go down this route, you will need to be able to fund a deposit, agency commission, legal fees and get rent guarantees and that is before you even get the keys and move in.

Tenants in private housing spend a reported 43% of their income on rent and in social housing it is still 29%, yet landlords are only seeing a modest 6% return on their investment.

How did the UK get into such a mess and hose did the housing market become so broken. Many towns and cities are seeing ghettos spring up or areas dominated by social housing and people on housing benefit. In Leeds there are over one hundred streets that are more or less given over to multi-occupied properties for students while Blackpool has seen a huge increase in housing benefit claimants across the region. Even in London there are upmarket areas becoming ghost towns as all the houses are bought by overseas speculative investors.

More and more people in their 20's and 30's are opting to remain living at home with their parents as they simply cannot afford a deposit for a house or a mortgage and cannot afford rising rents. Many parents are having to dip into their retirement funds to help their children get on the property ladder. More families are taking in older relatives as it becomes more economical for a number of generations to all pool resources and live together.

The tragedy that is the British housing market is down to 20 years of political cowardice.

Many of the most fashionable parts of London are now owned solely by the world's mega-rich, most not even British. And even those areas still under re-generation are becoming out of reach of the normal worker as savvy over-seas investors buy up properties to sit on for capital gain.

The level of home ownership in the UK is at its lowest in 25 years. Less than half the homes in London are owner occupied. Social housing is declining while the private rental sector is booming, doubling in the last 15 years to over 4 million properties. Many former council houses sold under the right to buy Act, meant to enable hard working Britons own their own home are now in the hands of private buy to let landlords.

Yet despite all this the Government does little. Sure there are a few schemes in place to try and boost house building and encourage first time buyers back into the market. But Council Tax rates have not been reviewed since 1991, seen as a vote loser, so for many properties in London the tax paid is incredibly low given the prise rises in the last 2 or 3 decades. But council budgets are being constantly cut so there are very few new council houses being built across the country and those council houses still under local authority ownership are likely to be given away under the continued right to buy scheme. Letting agencies are not regulated and so can get away with charging astronomical fees to prospective renters.

The Government will not put money into building housing itself, preferring to partner with developers in schemes such as Help to Buy and Build to Rent, simply offering guarantees for lenders if they take part in the scheme and incentives to house builders.

Any Government with a backbone would ensure regulations for purchasing properties were adhered to. So the super rich buying up London would be required to prove they live in the property for a minimum of say 200 days a year or face additional taxes if not.

But the Government is chasing votes, not trying to solve the national housing crisis.