March 30th 7-9pm, House Of Commons

What is holding Generation Rent Back?

In 1975 Margaret Thatcher declared her belief in the property owning democracy, by 1991 70% of households were homeowners. Today the Pendulum is shifting, home ownership is at an all time low. Campaign group Generation rent believes that renters will outstrip homeowners in 5 years time.

This poses a problem as homeowners are more likely to vote than renters, 90% are registered to vote compared to 58% respectively yet a large proportion of those making the key decisions are the home owning democracy and a third of MP’s are private landlords. Hence there is no interest to make a dramatic change. As a result we have a white paper which could have been written 10 years ago.

The struggles of unstable housing and high costs of renting disproportionately affects women due to the gender pay gap and impact of benefit cuts. The question is how does this affect the opportunities for women in the wider context?

Do these constraints make women less likely to take a career risk? Less likely to speak up? Less likely to make a fuss and ask for more pay? Are they all too busy trying to keep their heads above water? Who is going to represent the new renting democracy? How well are women represented within the housing sector itself, from government to private and social developers?

In this roundtable discussion we will be exploring the above topics to understand the real issues and what can be done.

Guest speakers include

–Joanna Vaughan, Directorate head of business strategy, Family Mosaic- Discussing how women can lead the way in housing as well as a personal account.

–Betsy Dillner– Previous Director of Generation Rent,

-Elaine McQuaid– Architect-  Personal account renting, working and motherhood

–Miranda McClaren-Director- Personal account on renting, working, political and career choices.

–Pam Alexander-Chair of Covent Garden Market Authority, Non-Executive Director of Crest Nicholson plc,trustee of the Design Council and Chair of Design Council Cabe amongst many more accolades

Location: House of Commons, Committee Room 6 March 30rd 7-8pm. Please allow plenty of time to ge thorugh security, queues can be up 30 mins at busy times.