Older people have a stranglehold on family homes | Money | guardian.co.uk

Older people have a stranglehold on family homes | Money | guardian.co.uk

Forty years ago my parents moved into a smart new-build estate of four-bed family homes. With a "car port" and a fitted Hygena QA kitchen, it felt like Beverley Hills after the east London terrace we'd left behind, although really it was just a cul-de-sac in Hastings. One family even had a swimming pool, but we didn't stop to ask how they felt about the seven Collinson kids, and the numerous other children on the estate, diving in.

But now the splashing has died away. The pool is covered over and the sound of children has gone. The houses are bigger – extensions abound (some slightly less hideous than others) – but where once 20 or even 30 children roamed, now there's just one, sometimes two. Virtually every home is now occupied by retired couples in their 70s and 80s.