Three generations of my family were born in the 20th century. My grandparents could become professionals without going to university. They had no family support, yet by the time my parents were born they owned comfortable detached homes with gardens.

For my parents, degrees were more important. But they did not need money from their parents. By the time they had their first child—in their twenties—they also owned a detached house with a garden.

My generation of professionals, of course, is different. We do need degrees, and many of us need help from our parents. We cannot afford a flat, let alone a house, without it. Why? Because our collective parents are making it impossible. As the baby boomer generation—aged 45 to 65—they are the largest and most powerful political constituency in Britain. And they are using their electoral clout to prevent their children from having opportunities equal to their own. In crude terms, they are keeping too much wealth. By the time we inherit, it will be too late.

This is most obvious in housing. Baby boomers complain their children cannot afford a house—while preventing the development that would make it possible. Despite population growth, they have consistently failed to increase the supply of available land. London is expected to have 700,000 additional households in the next 20 years—the equivalent of 35,000 households per year. Yet in the last year fewer than 25,000 dwellings were created in the capital. This has been true for decades: the supply of housing has not been allowed to keep pace with demand. Unsurprisingly, house prices have skyrocketed—my parents’ house in London has quadrupled in real terms during my lifetime of 26 years—and the wealth gap between those who bought in that period and those who did not increases every year.

For baby boomers high house prices are a guarantee for the future: a significant part of their pension and a vital asset to pass on when they die. That is why cutting inheritance tax is so popular. It is also why people passionately resist new housing in their area.

For us, it is a catastrophe. The population increases, new houses are not built and the price of property continues to rise. The average person in my age bracket—between 22 and 29—cannot pay their rent and save for a deposit. It would cost on average 10 per cent more than their net monthly income.…

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