“租世代”：何去何从？

Owning her own home was never a dream for Lyndsey Yates. The freelance graphic designer and her partner Mark， a web designer， have always hankered after something more flexible， more exotic.1

“When we first got together we were convinced we would never buy a house because we wanted our freedom， to move around wherever we wanted to，” she says. They both had good careers. Freelancing gave them flexibility. Life in Spain or Switzerland looked like fun. “At one point we were learning Dutch2 because we were thinking of moving to Holland.”

Life got in the way. First came the birth of their daughter three years ago， making the idea of a more permanent home appealing. Then their rented home， in Newburgh， near Wigan，3 was hit by flooding and their freedom became a burden.

“We had to move out， but we couldnt find anywhere to live，”Lyndsey says. “None of the landlords wanted to take a risk on two freelancers.” At the age of 32， Lyndsey and her family moved back in with her parents.

Seven months later， after more than a dozen viewings， they found a nice house. Now， like the rest of generation rent， Lyndsey is wondering if her family will be able to buy a home.

Renting has become the new normal for millions of people in the UK. Rising house prices and a lack of new homes for first-time buyers takes home ownership out of reach of millennials， particularly in the south east of England， where house prices have far outstripped salaries.4 Add in the burden of debt from student loans—the average debt for a graduate is ￡32，220 in England—and its easy to see why many think twice about taking on a mortgage.5

“We believe that renting should be as valid a choice as ownership，” says Dan Wilson Craw， interim6 director of campaign group GenerationRent.org. “But its not a choice. People want to escape a sector that is preventing them from finding a long-term home.

“People know a rented house is only a temporary home. Renters are less likely to feel like decorating， less inclined to take part in the local community and they feel as though they dont really have a home.”7

So why is home ownership seen as better than renting？ The roots of our obsession with owning houses sprang from the political upheavals of the 1920s， when the Conservatives faced the electoral threat of the new Labour party，8 according to Brian Lund， a visiting fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of Housing Politics in the United Kingdom.

“The argument was that the working class now had the vote， and the way to attract them was through creating a property-owning democracy，”Lund says. “They pushed the idea that youre a full member of the community when you own property. Renting—particularly council renting9—is the contrast. That has entrenched owner-occupation as an ideology.”10

There are also practical， financial benefits for homeowners. Mortgage repayments are often lower than rent， and once the mortgage is paid off， the owner has a valuable asset.11 But that is part of the problem， Wilson Craw says. “Weve seen the development of housing as a commodity12 to invest in， as opposed to somewhere to live. You see people investing their savings in buy-to-let property， raising house prices and creating a perception that property is a safe bet.”13

Building more houses is the obvious solution， but the average annual rate of house building is 144，000—not enough to cool rising prices in housing hotspots14. And tenants15 of private landlords still need protection.

Wilson Craw says better safeguards for tenants would make them feel more secure. “Tenants who complain about their landlords know they will just be hit with a retaliatory eviction.16 They need more power in the rental market， so that landlords take their responsibilities seriously.”

If the 20 somethings of generation rent believe home ownership is impossible， will they abandon the idea altogether？ Are other millennials opting for Lyndsey Yatess dream of a freewheeling lifestyle？17

Laura Meier has. The 24-year-old recruitment consultant left Munich18 earlier this year to take up an 18-month contract in London. She didnt know anyone in the UK， and was worried about finding a house and making friends. The answer for her was co-living： renting a room in a converted Victorian house with a state-of-theart kitchen， a laundry and shared workspace.19 Everything is included—cleaning， electricity， water， council tax20 and wifi—for a single price.

“I like that you can choose if you want to socialise or not，” she said. “If I feel lonely I can just go to the living room. You can always find someone.”

Instead of tenants， the people who live in the house are members of a startup21 called Roam， which offers properties in Miami， San Francisco， Tokyo and Bali. They can live in any of the properties any time they like.

“You get people who stay for months， like me， and some who stay for a few weeks and move on，” Laura says. “Most of them work from home， so they are self-employed or they have a job that it doesnt matter where they are， like a software engineer.”

Bruno Haid， the founder of Roam， believes that it could be possible to break the link between owning property for investment and for living. He is planning a global property fund for his members to invest in.

“The idea is that you invest every month in a portfolio， and the dividends from that pay your rent，”22 he said. “At the start the dividends might not be so much， so youd need to top up23 your rent. But after some time， you build a bigger stake24 in the fund， and the dividends cover all of your rent. So you have both your investment and flexibility. A bit like having your cake and eating it too.” That might sound out of reach for many， but co-living has been catching on in London with properties available to rent at market rates.

1. freelance： 自由职业者的；hanker after： 向往，渴望；exotic： 异国情调的。

2. Dutch： 荷兰语。

3. Newburgh： 纽堡，位于英格兰西北部兰开夏郡；Wigan： 威根，位于英格兰西北部大曼彻斯特郡。

4. 房价的不断抬高，以及初次购买者面对的新房源数量不足的问题，都使房屋所有权对于千禧一代而言愈发遥不可及，尤其是在英格兰东南部，那里的房价远远高于工资水平。millennial： 千禧一代，泛指1980至2000年间出生的人；outstrip： 超过。

5. loan： 贷款；mortgage：抵押贷款，按揭。

6. interim： 临时的，过渡时期的。

7. 租户往往没有装潢和布置房屋的兴趣，也并不愿意融入当地社区，他们会感觉自己好像并不真正拥有一个家。

8. spring from： 源自；upheaval：剧变，动乱；Conservative：指英国保守党人士，保守党是英国的老牌大党，立场中间偏右，距今已有300多年的历史，是英国两大主要执政党之一；electoral： 选举的；Labour party： 英國工党，英国两大主要执政党之一，英国左翼政党，1900年2月27日成立于伦敦。

9. council renting： 即rent a council house，租用政府救济房。

10. entrench： 巩固；owneroccupation：（房屋、公寓等的）业主自用，业主自住；ideology：意识形态。

11. repayment：（借款）归还，（债务）偿还；asset： 资产。

12. commodity： 商品。

13. 你能看到许多人都将积蓄投资于“购房出租”中，这使得房价进一步飙升，并形成一种共识：房产是一个稳赚不赔的买卖。buy-to-let： 购房出租，先买后租；safe bet： 准能赢的打赌。

14. hotspot： 热点地区。

15. tenant： 房客，租户。

16. retaliatory： // 报复的；eviction： 逐出，赶出。

17. opt for： 选择；freewheeling： 随心所欲的，自由自在的。

18. Munich： 慕尼黑，德国巴伐利亚州首府。

19. 对她而言，答案便是合住：在一栋改建过的维多利亚式住宅中租一间屋，宅内配有一流的厨房、洗衣房和共享工作区域。state-of-the-art： 最先进的，达到最高水准的。

20. council tax： 英国的房屋税（市政税），是英格兰、苏格兰以及威尔士三个地区地方政府以住户为单位征收的一种税，是地方政府所提供的一些功能服务的部分资金来源。

21. startup： 新创办的小公司。

22. portfolio： //（某人或某公司持有的）有价证券组合，投资组合；dividend： 股息，红利。

23. topup： 充值，追加款项。

24. stake： 股份。