Flee the city, free your mind

Is London’s youth moving to gain stability, sanity or both?

Living in the city has hardly ever been a bargain. But in recent years, the cost of living in London has skyrocketed beyond its notoriously high rates. More and more people are making the move out of the city, with London’s youth fleeing at a rate of 100,000 a year. But, is there more to this mass exodus than ever-growing rent?

Jack Jenkins, a 28-year-old primary school teacher has joined the masses, moving from London to Liverpool where he now lives with much more space, for much less money. After paying £600/month for a small room in a South London flat share, Jenkins now resides in a 13/15 square meter studio flat with a sink and two electric rings for only £350/month – a far more comfortable living situation for him, and his wallet.

For Jenkins, it all came down to the size and the price, two factors that are driving Londoners out of the city. According to GMB Union, the average rent of a 2 bedroom flat increased at a rate 26% from 2011 to 2017, while earnings only grew by 9%. Prices have increased from four times to over ten times the average national wage between 1998 and 2018, with the average renter now spending more than a third of their income on rent, compared to a fifth in 1998. But for many, their motives to move extend well-beyond saving a few pennies.

In addition to higher pricing, the sizes of new houses being built in the UK are shrinking. In the 1970s, the average living room was 25 square metres. Homes built today average 17 square metres, and it doesn’t stop with new constructions. Landlords are now dividing up large houses into smaller flats, while office blocks are being converted into homes for rent.

James Wallman, the author of Suffocation, a book about living a life of minimalism, stated that “London’s broken housing market is especially tough on hard working, middle income, single people.” He is not wrong. With this inverse growth of rent and size within London’s housing market, it is no wonder that young city dwellers are sacrificing city life for stability, financially and mentally.

London’s real estate market is taking a toll on the well-being of residents, possibly as much as it does their wallets. 24-year-old Chris Barkman shares a flat with his girlfriend so small that the bedroom has barely enough space to move around the bed. With only one more room housing both the kitchen and the living room, the couple has no space to spend time apart when they are both home, a problem as one struggles with anxiety, and the other, an eating disorder.

“When I’m feeling stressed and anxious in the outside world, it’s important for me to have a base where I feel comfortable,” says Chris. “It’s very hard to avoid having a lot of clutter when you live in such a small space and that makes it harder to decompress. I get very irritable.”

Another young Londoner, Lee Brown, moved from a one-bedroom flat in north London to a three-bedroom house in Bristol with his wife at age 30, as they realized they would never be able to afford a house as nice as their small flat if they stayed in the city.

“We decided to make the leap and we’re so glad we did,” he said. “We were both amazed by how pent up and anxious we’d both been in London. Something we’ve only noticed in it’s absence now we’ve left.”

Barkman and Brown are not alone. Many have found similar reactions to life outside of a cramped London flat, and rightfully so. The head of housing research at Levitt Bernstein architects, and author of “A History of Space Standards,” Julia Park, has spoken to the dangers of shoe-box living.

“Some of these flats post threats to physical health, but in small spaces it’s going to be mental health that’s most affected,” Park says.

Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter, a housing charity in the UK, speaks similarly on the affects of small living spaces on the people who reside in them. “Tiny homes don’t necessarily mean cheaper homes, and at Shelter we know that having a decent place to live is vital for people’s wellbeing,” she says. “So compromising on space and quality isn’t going to do anyone any favours.”

With the mental impacts of small living spaces, coupled with the rising cost of rent, it is no wonder that London’s youth is making the decision to flee the hustle and bustle of the city, and find a more stable and spacious life.

But as young professionals of the UK’s largest city continue to leave in large numbers, concern has been raised as to whether or not they will be replaced. Unless change is brought to the market and quality of housing in London, the city is on its way to losing the entirety of its youth. What will become of life in London then?

Note: This article written as a writing exercise in a feature writing course at University College London. The topic and a list of quotations were provided.