[Argument] Landlord insurance reform is one of the biggest issues for young people

Although boring, these insurance policies (and draconian tenant regulations in general) make renting artificially scarce for students, because they cluster us with DSS tenants (who might statistically make up the majority of issues? idk).

Anyway, this results in property bubbles in student towns, where you have a large percentage of the population as potential tenants fighting for the remaining flats available, with August being particularly cutthroat. Low supply and high demand will increase rent prices in the area, making cash-strapped students even more destitute. I don't know how hundreds of thousands of students seem to do this with such ease every summer, I always struggle myself while knowing it is totally contrived and solvable. I've offered to pay 9 months rent in one instalment but the plebs at the letting agents refuse, instead wanting a "working professional" even though I have more savings than the majority of people under 30. Even international students paying £12K tuition out of pocket still suffer the same prejudice. Landlord insurance is straight up discriminatory.

Overall, the lack of new housing + landlord insurance policy terms + a negative stigma against students + increases in student populations all combine to make the renting process kafkaesque and unnecessarily convoluted. Mandatory viewings, references, credit checks, dictionary-sized tenancy agreements and even tenant interviews, just for a 9 month shelter. In the US, there's none of this, you just get evicted by the county court in 2 weeks if you miss rent.

You can blame the letting agents, as they are indeed bottom feeders of our society, but the government has the authority to change their dynamics of this market. Housing is an issue that I honestly think all parties want to fix. Our representatives removed the extortionate fees on tenants, and we can do the same with making landlord policies less discriminatory. One way to reduce empty houses? Let students live in them.

While most young people are pre-occupied with LGBT rights, the ethics of transgender bathroom use, and finding sexual assault in their communities; these issues distract us from more boring albeit pragmatic issues that will have a tangible benefit all young people across the political spectrum if addressed.