In Britain, young people are expected to become independent in their 20s. In short, young adults are not just opting for a cheaper domestic arrangement to save money. He told the BBC’s Today programme: “I’m not going to bring a girl back to my parents’ house. The evidence is that the trend reproduces inequality not only in wealth but in the ability to establish an independent life. A social democratic programme should build more social housing, strengthen wages and job security, and shift taxation away from work towards rent extraction.