Rent reform is the main battleground if parties want to woo Gen Z voters

If Labour or the Conservatives want to get Gen Z turning up at the polling station, they will have to address the issue of rent reform writes Shira Jeczmien

Forget culture wars. Forget economic competence, even. If either party wants to win over young voters ahead of a general election, rent reform is key.

You wouldn’t know it from media coverage that obsesses over mortgage-holding homeowners, but the economic fallout of the Truss/Kwarteng fiasco hit renters just as hard, if not harder. After years of rents rising faster than mortgage payments did this year, renters have been hammered – and young renters in particular.

Almost half of tenants aged between 18 and 24 have had to move back in with their parents due to the cost of renting, according to research carried out by SCREENSHOT Media. A vast 86 per cent of those surveyed do not trust the Government to fix the crisis.  

Very few people in politics or the media seem to care that a cohort of young people is currently being cut off from opportunities in desirable careers because industries are still concentrated in big cities that the young can no longer afford to live and work in. It isn’t just jobs – so much culture is similarly concentrated. Who knows what that lack of access will do to generational social mobility?

Sure, Labour might hold a commanding polling lead that is even more pronounced among young people. But it’s unclear how many of those Labour “supporters” are actually pumped about what Keir Starmer’s offering, rather than just viewing him as the “get the Tories out” option.

To put it bluntly, young people are uninspired by the current political landscape, and it’s not hard to see exactly why when politicians do so little for them. But Starmer needs this demographic (whose turnout is generally weaker) to be energised enough to campaign and vote for him. Losing them to indifference, or even outright hostility – a real prospect if he continues to shift towards a more conservative approach on certain progressive issues – could see that lead quickly narrow. And the quirky electoral maths of the UK’s first-past-the-post system might put outright victory at risk.

It does seem that Labour realises this – and perhaps even genuinely cares about renters. Angela Rayner opened up their conference by committing to end Section 21 “no-fault” evictions as well as strengthen and accelerate other measures in the repeatedly-delayed Renters (Reform) Bill.

And then we’ve got the Conservatives. A savvy party would recognise that instead of delaying the Bill to the point where starting over is inevitable if it isn’t passed by November, they could actually use pushing through rental reform as a strategic move to disrupt and challenge their opponents.

Commit to signing the Bill into law before an election, and Rishi Sunak could somewhat undermine Starmer. It wouldn’t solve everything, but it would show that, beyond the strong reactions, the Conservative party gets what a lot of people care about. After all, the renting crisis hits 18-24-year-olds hardest, but in recent years it’s also affected older voters who are stuck in rental homes due to soaring house prices and stagnant wages.

Instead – in a huge misstep for the self-styled party of aspiration, social mobility, and homeownership – Sunak’s headline speech last week overlooked any mention of housing. This seems to give an edge to Labour, but the big question is: will this oversight actually benefit renters?