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1) Home ownership changed from being the American Dream to the American Expectation.
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This is the biggie for me. This is the huge cultural shift that fed the rest. It happened here too. Owning a home became an expected part of being an adult; renting meanwhile, became stigmatised at all but the highest levels (executive let). Council housing (social housing projects) which had been the mainstay of working-class housing for a long time became associated with the underclass.
When I was a kid, one of the first things most of my friends did when they hit 18 was get their name on the Council's housing list. Unless you were pretty well off this is what you did when you grew up.
I know lots of people have said to me over the years, why don't I buy a house, instead of throwing my money away renting. Answer? I have never felt financially stable enough to risk taking on that level of debt and potentially having my home taken off me. I rent, I dont accrue more than a few hundred in debt and if I end up unemployed I can claim help with that rent. Whatever the economic climate there will always be landlords. I don't need to own a house, I just need to be able to live in one.