Makes sense. Me and my partner will be leaving London in order to have children. You can’t have kids here it just isn’t economically possible.
TLDR
People don’t have the money to have children anymore meaning the birth rate in London has dropped by 17% in 9 years
Schools are closing because of lack of kids and teachers are unable to afford to live there
Wonder what the government will do about it…. I won’t hold my breath
The Planning White Paper, HS2/3, Oxbridge Arc, all solutions to get the birth rates up by lowering the cost of living and increasing wages…
But voters don’t want it
People living in the cities tend to have less kids because there is simply no space.
This is well known and happens worldwide it’s not unique to London.
Most people I know in London aren’t having kids as it’s too expensive to live there on their own never mind with kids
Kids don’t pay £1200 per room in rent. Lazy bastards.
Places like manhattan, very few children. Some of the richest places on our planet are some of the worst places to bring up a child. Things are really bizarre.
not sure which part of london but here in west london, schools i seen are over subscribed.
Grew up middle class in London, had to move out to buy a house, and so did most of my friends and my sibling. What hope do people have who had less opportunities? It’s got even worse since we all left. I loved living there, but there was no chance to do it sustainably. I might’ve had kids if it was affordable, but too late now.
Another argument for moving the capital to Sheffield!
Children of Men vibes. But seriously, most people want the best for their children. If you can’t afford proper housing, childcare etc, you either aren’t having children or are moving out of London. It would be nice to have a government looking to tackle the problem because I am sure more Millennials would have kids if they could afford it!
Yeah pretty much.
I’m from the North London / Herts border and have no idea how I’d ever afford to have kids. I swear you need to be on 100 grand or something to even think about starting a family.
Most people are priced out of housing in London , so they are going elsewhere to buy a home and start a family.. I work in London and most of my colleagues with families commute from outside of the city to work here. The exception is one lady who lives in a house passed down to her from her parents. Ofcourse the pandemic has made it so people commute less, so looking for a house outside London is even more attractive.
Haven’t read the article, just popped in to say… “you mean the place where living is becoming unaffordable for a lot of people is suffering from a shortage of families with children?”
*shocked pikachu face*
Haven’t read the article, just popped in to say… “you mean the place where living is becoming unaffordable for a lot of people is suffering from a shortage of families with children?”
*shocked pikachu face*
Not really surprising, only flats get built, houses are becoming rooms to rent only and rent skyrocketing, how is it even possible to have kids. Atleast with all the foreign individuals and corporation investment in the property stock we have a booming housing bubble 🙄
Not really surprising, only flats get built, houses are becoming rooms to rent only and rent skyrocketing, how is it even possible to have kids. Atleast with all the foreign individuals and corporation investment in the property stock we have a booming housing bubble 🙄
Maybe too many of us watched the airport scene in Utopia and took it to heart? /s
I moved out of London specifically and solely to have kids. The expense, the pollution, the crime, the small living spaces, the expense, the crappy schools (or the overly expensive schools), the dodgy daycare rooms in the bottom floor of some overcrowded terrace, did I mention the expense?
And I doubt I’m the only one; a suspicious amount of women in my midlands pre-natal group have southern accents.
It’s just too expensive to have any quality of life as a family here, unless you earn BIG money.
It starts with housing. A two bed flat with a kitchen-diner is cosy for one kid. A three bed house might set you back… £800k? £1m? So you need a £150k+ income.
Then once you’ve had the baby, the cost of childcare so you can work and pay that massive mortgage is vast. And hard to come by. I’m still on waiting lists for all but one of the nurseries local to me – and it’s costing me £2k a month.
It’s just not sustainable for people on normal (and even quite above average) incomes.
I imagine a lot of families wonder why they’re working 80-100 hours a week and earning good money to… live in a poky house/flat for a huge sum of money, in a dodgy part of town. What’s the point?
I earn good money, live in a small house in an ok area – but, even for me the next ‘rung’ of the housing ladder probably requires another million quid. I’m not going to be earning an additional £200-250k a year any time soon.
Private schools are seeing the same issues – how many people can afford £2-4k a month in school fees? Even on London salaries, not many.
It makes you wonder about quality of life vs elsewhere.
Sounds identical to what happened in Japan, Korea, China, where there are so many people and no one having kids anymore. And FYI, all three places managed to do absolutely nothing actual useful to help improve.
Snooty People: “If you can’t afford to have children then don’t have them!”
London: “ok. ”
Snooty People: “Why is there no workforce to pay for my pension!!”
A ghost town owned by the kleptocrats and oligarchs of the world
“London- A City Without Children” a new motion picture starring Clive Warren.
Thatcher said there was no such thing as Society and people keep voting for that mindset.
This is the result of neoliberalism, and it’ll only get worse.
My partner of 5 years and I have a cumulative income of around £60k yet we are still being priced out of London, let alone having kids – which we’ve wanted for years.
I had the opportunity to adopt my 3yo niece last year and we _still_ couldn’t afford it.
Today we started having a discussion about moving into my parents’ pub in the West Country.
Well done Rishi and his team of Brexiters, that’s another fine mess you’ve got us into. Hey ho though! At least Rishi’s investor mates can buy up all the spare houses and watch their empty investments appreciate in value!
Because people who are from London, who were born in London, grew up in London and whose friends and families and lives are in London, can’t afford to actually live here.
28 comments
Makes sense. Me and my partner will be leaving London in order to have children. You can’t have kids here it just isn’t economically possible.
TLDR
People don’t have the money to have children anymore meaning the birth rate in London has dropped by 17% in 9 years
Schools are closing because of lack of kids and teachers are unable to afford to live there
Wonder what the government will do about it…. I won’t hold my breath
The Planning White Paper, HS2/3, Oxbridge Arc, all solutions to get the birth rates up by lowering the cost of living and increasing wages…
But voters don’t want it
People living in the cities tend to have less kids because there is simply no space.
This is well known and happens worldwide it’s not unique to London.
Most people I know in London aren’t having kids as it’s too expensive to live there on their own never mind with kids
Kids don’t pay £1200 per room in rent. Lazy bastards.
Places like manhattan, very few children. Some of the richest places on our planet are some of the worst places to bring up a child. Things are really bizarre.
not sure which part of london but here in west london, schools i seen are over subscribed.
Grew up middle class in London, had to move out to buy a house, and so did most of my friends and my sibling. What hope do people have who had less opportunities? It’s got even worse since we all left. I loved living there, but there was no chance to do it sustainably. I might’ve had kids if it was affordable, but too late now.
Another argument for moving the capital to Sheffield!
Children of Men vibes. But seriously, most people want the best for their children. If you can’t afford proper housing, childcare etc, you either aren’t having children or are moving out of London. It would be nice to have a government looking to tackle the problem because I am sure more Millennials would have kids if they could afford it!
Yeah pretty much.
I’m from the North London / Herts border and have no idea how I’d ever afford to have kids. I swear you need to be on 100 grand or something to even think about starting a family.
Most people are priced out of housing in London , so they are going elsewhere to buy a home and start a family.. I work in London and most of my colleagues with families commute from outside of the city to work here. The exception is one lady who lives in a house passed down to her from her parents. Ofcourse the pandemic has made it so people commute less, so looking for a house outside London is even more attractive.
Haven’t read the article, just popped in to say… “you mean the place where living is becoming unaffordable for a lot of people is suffering from a shortage of families with children?”
*shocked pikachu face*
Haven’t read the article, just popped in to say… “you mean the place where living is becoming unaffordable for a lot of people is suffering from a shortage of families with children?”
*shocked pikachu face*
Not really surprising, only flats get built, houses are becoming rooms to rent only and rent skyrocketing, how is it even possible to have kids. Atleast with all the foreign individuals and corporation investment in the property stock we have a booming housing bubble 🙄
Not really surprising, only flats get built, houses are becoming rooms to rent only and rent skyrocketing, how is it even possible to have kids. Atleast with all the foreign individuals and corporation investment in the property stock we have a booming housing bubble 🙄
Maybe too many of us watched the airport scene in Utopia and took it to heart? /s
https://youtu.be/rcx-nf3kH_M
I moved out of London specifically and solely to have kids. The expense, the pollution, the crime, the small living spaces, the expense, the crappy schools (or the overly expensive schools), the dodgy daycare rooms in the bottom floor of some overcrowded terrace, did I mention the expense?
And I doubt I’m the only one; a suspicious amount of women in my midlands pre-natal group have southern accents.
It’s just too expensive to have any quality of life as a family here, unless you earn BIG money.
It starts with housing. A two bed flat with a kitchen-diner is cosy for one kid. A three bed house might set you back… £800k? £1m? So you need a £150k+ income.
Then once you’ve had the baby, the cost of childcare so you can work and pay that massive mortgage is vast. And hard to come by. I’m still on waiting lists for all but one of the nurseries local to me – and it’s costing me £2k a month.
It’s just not sustainable for people on normal (and even quite above average) incomes.
I imagine a lot of families wonder why they’re working 80-100 hours a week and earning good money to… live in a poky house/flat for a huge sum of money, in a dodgy part of town. What’s the point?
I earn good money, live in a small house in an ok area – but, even for me the next ‘rung’ of the housing ladder probably requires another million quid. I’m not going to be earning an additional £200-250k a year any time soon.
Private schools are seeing the same issues – how many people can afford £2-4k a month in school fees? Even on London salaries, not many.
It makes you wonder about quality of life vs elsewhere.
Sounds identical to what happened in Japan, Korea, China, where there are so many people and no one having kids anymore. And FYI, all three places managed to do absolutely nothing actual useful to help improve.
Snooty People: “If you can’t afford to have children then don’t have them!”
London: “ok. ”
Snooty People: “Why is there no workforce to pay for my pension!!”
A ghost town owned by the kleptocrats and oligarchs of the world
“London- A City Without Children” a new motion picture starring Clive Warren.
Thatcher said there was no such thing as Society and people keep voting for that mindset.
This is the result of neoliberalism, and it’ll only get worse.
My partner of 5 years and I have a cumulative income of around £60k yet we are still being priced out of London, let alone having kids – which we’ve wanted for years.
I had the opportunity to adopt my 3yo niece last year and we _still_ couldn’t afford it.
Today we started having a discussion about moving into my parents’ pub in the West Country.
Well done Rishi and his team of Brexiters, that’s another fine mess you’ve got us into. Hey ho though! At least Rishi’s investor mates can buy up all the spare houses and watch their empty investments appreciate in value!
Because people who are from London, who were born in London, grew up in London and whose friends and families and lives are in London, can’t afford to actually live here.