Episode 2: Finding a Home, Keeping Our Sanity – Young Voices on Housing and Mental Health
🗣️ About this Episode
In this second episode of the YMHBB podcast, young people from Barcelona and Manchester reflect on how the housing crisis is damaging their mental health. They talk about the emotional cost of unstable housing, economic precarity, family tensions, and the feeling of being trapped in systems that don’t provide real support. From long waiting lists to exploitative landlords, the struggle to access dignified housing is framed not only as an economic crisis, but as a mental health emergency.
They also explore how youth from both cities can join forces to raise awareness, support one another, and demand collective change.
💬 We invite you to reflect and comment below:
What’s your experience with housing and mental health?
Do you think housing is treated as a mental health issue in your city?
What kind of support do you wish existed?
Transcription
Lucía (Barcelona):
Hi everyone, and welcome. I’m Lucía from the Casal de Joves de Roquetes, and today we’re talking about something that deeply affects us as young people: housing — and how the crisis around it impacts our mental health.
Living in Barcelona as a young person often feels like a survival challenge. Rents are sky-high, salaries are low, and the idea of having your own home is practically a dream. It’s not just a barrier to personal growth, it creates constant anxiety and uncertainty.
Most of us can’t afford to move out until well into our 30s. It’s not about choice — it’s simply unaffordable. And staying with family often means living in difficult, overcrowded, or emotionally tense conditions. Today, we want to reflect on how all of this is affecting our mental health.
Linton (Manchester):
Thanks Lucía. I’m Linton, joining from Manchester, and I work in the housing sector. For me, the issue isn’t just about affordability or availability — it’s about the systemic forces that shape housing today, including gentrification, legal obstacles, and social inequalities.
We want to ask: Is there emotional support for young people navigating housing today?
In the UK, I’d say the systems make it incredibly hard to access decent housing or even reliable information. Social housing is nearly nonexistent, with over a million people on waiting lists. Private rentals are dominated by landlords and companies that often don’t respect tenants’ rights. And emotional support? It’s rarely part of the conversation. But the stress is real and lasting.
Lucía (Barcelona):
Yes — and here, housing is seen almost exclusively as an economic issue. No one talks about how exhausting and emotionally draining it is to constantly search for a room that’s often overpriced, unsafe, or technically illegal — like windowless rooms being rented as “bedrooms.” We have no access to support systems that could help us manage the stress or talk openly about how this is affecting us.
Clara (Barcelona):
I completely agree. Mental health services are already underfunded and overstretched — and housing stress only makes things worse. Often, our only emotional support comes from friends or family, even though they’re also struggling. There's more accessible information about eviction processes than about how to find a dignified home.
Núria (Barcelona):
Another layer of this is family dynamics. When you want to start living your own life — working, going out, forming relationships — and you're stuck at home because you can’t afford to leave, it creates a lot of tension. There’s conflict, a loss of privacy, and it blocks your development. You can’t grow when you don’t have your own space.
Clara:
Exactly. Our lifestyles and rhythms change as we grow up — but our families’ routines stay the same. That clash is hard to manage, and it influences everything: friendships, romantic relationships, personal growth. Having your own home isn’t just about shelter — it’s about identity, autonomy, safety.
Linton:
Yes — and being constantly compared to older generations only adds pressure. They had access to housing, steady jobs, and stability. We’re living under completely different economic and political conditions, but we’re still judged by outdated standards. That leads to internalised feelings of failure.
Not having housing can impact relationships, career prospects, even your physical health. Without a secure base, you live in limbo. Your whole life becomes a waiting game — for a room, for rights, for stability.
Núria:
And that waiting turns into frustration and sadness. You feel like you’re falling behind, like you’re not doing “what you’re supposed to” at your age. And that’s not just external pressure — it becomes internalised shame, anxiety, even depression.
You end up socially isolated too. If you can’t invite friends or a partner to your home, your relationships suffer. You don’t have space to build the life you want. It becomes a cycle of frustration and emotional stagnation.
Lucía:
Exactly. And even if you're managing financially, there’s no mental health safety net. The emotional cost is just ignored.
Linton:
In the UK, this is now a structural crisis. Over 100,000 children are in temporary housing. One in five adults reports mental health issues directly linked to housing insecurity. And when councils are underfunded and can’t provide support, the only place left to point the finger is the state.
Despite new tenants’ rights legislation and talk of reform, people are still living — and dying — in unacceptable conditions. The state's response doesn’t match the severity of the problem.
Clara:
As young people, it’s easy to feel powerless. But the answer can’t be isolation. We need to talk about this, organise, build community — locally and even across borders. We’re not alone, and that’s where the power lies.
Núria:
Totally agree. Making noise, demanding change — that’s what we can do. We have to raise our voices, insist that this isn’t just an economic problem. It’s an issue of dignity, wellbeing, and justice.
Linton:
Absolutely. We don’t just need more houses — we need better rights, stronger policies, and youth-led spaces in housing debates. We need to end short-termism in housing policy and centre the lived realities of tenants — especially young people.
Lucía (closing):
To sum up: the housing crisis affects more than our wallets — it affects our minds, our relationships, and our futures. It limits our development, creates emotional exhaustion, and isolates us socially. We need public recognition of this, emotional support systems, and real solutions — not just talk.
Thanks for listening. Stay tuned for more episodes where we’ll keep exploring how mental health intersects with the everyday struggles young people face — and how we can turn our experiences into collective change.
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