Fiona a is h £t Jo Tomlinson

Track 23
Lecturer: 
As we have seen, changes in the structure of the fam ily are constantly o ccurring: extended to nuclear, 
patrifocal to a more equal footing between the sexes, and dual parenting to single parenting. However, 
a recent phenomenon in the UK which is changing the tra d itio n a l fa m ily is the increasing num ber of 
adults who continue to live w ith th e ir parents u n til th e ir th irtie s o r som etim es even th e ir forties. The 
UK has tra d itio n a lly been a society w here offspring leave the fa m ily home in th e ir late teens o r early 
tw enties to set up th e ir own home and fam ilies. But in the last tw enty-five years th is has decreased. 
O fficial sta tistics released by the Office of N ational Statistics show that today ten per cent of men in 
th e ir early th irtie s s till live w ith th e ir parents: this compares w ith five per cent of wom en in this age 
range.
The reasons fo r this are complex and varied. It cannot be denied that some people are choosing to 
stay at home. Living w ith parents can be an easy option; food is provided, heating and electricity are paid 
for, and rent, if any, is m inim al. However, a third of those surveyed claimed they are living w ith th eir 
parents because it is too d ifficu lt to get on the property ladder. House prices in the last few decades 
have risen dram atically; property is now five tim es the average annual salary, whereas it was only three 
tim es the average annual wage in the 1980s. This fact, coupled w ith high unemploym ent amongst young 
people, makes it virtua lly impossible fo r a single person to buy a home o r even rent.
The num ber of students going on to higher education has also been steadily increasing. Many of 
these students return home a fte r finishing th e ir studies as a re su lt of the student debt they have 
a ccum ulated. It can take many years to pay this off, and if the burden of rent o r a m ortgage is added to 
that, it can be ju s t too m uch fo r a young adult's pocket.
However, help is now at hand. The governm ent is tackling some of the problem s that cause people 
to rem ain w ith th e ir parents w ith a new scheme: the Affordable Housing Scheme. This aim s to help 
people part buy a house or fla t by m aking housing m ore affordable fo r firs t-tim e buyers, and possibly 
taking the strain away from elderly parents!