Baby Boomer slated young people for 'not working' — until he tried to find his child an affordable home

For years, younger generations have argued that the housing market they’re facing is nothing like what their parents or grandparents dealt with. Buying a home today often means taking on debt several times higher than one's annual income, while wages haven’t kept pace with rising costs. That generational gap in affordability is exactly what one Reddit user described when sharing a story about his father. In a thread started by u/PralineFearless3979 asking Baby Boomers how they feel about criticism directed at their generation, one user shared a story about his father that captured how quickly opinions can change once the numbers are laid out.

u/HuntedWolf wrote in his reply, "My father, as a quintessential Baby Boomer born in the 50’s, used to have the mentality of young people just aren’t willing to work as hard," he explained. His dad had grown up in a working-class family supported by car factory jobs, becoming the first to attend university. By his son’s account, "I wouldn’t say he was ever really handed anything." That outlook stayed with him for years, until a few years ago, when his son and partner were in the process of buying a home. "He gawked when I told him how much our mortgage would be. He said we were buying outside of our means," u/HuntedWolf wrote.

Instead of getting defensive, he posed a challenge: find something more affordable. "He took that as a challenge, as he always would, and came in hours later saying he’d been looking at house prices and they’re all ridiculous." The reality check was stark — his parents had bought their first flat in 1980, spending around £25,000 while their combined income was £11,000. That ratio was barely more than twice their annual earnings. Today, the son’s mortgage is "close to 6 times our combined income, and that’s much better than most for our age." A 2024 analysis from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found that in 2022, the average price of a single-family home in the U.S. was 5.6 times the median household income, a record high not seen since tracking began in the early 1970s.

Seeing the shift in affordability firsthand, his father dropped the usual "work harder" refrain. "He changed his opinion after that," his son said, adding that it went beyond private conversations. "In the last local elections, he asked his candidate what their policy was on the rising house prices." The story sparked plenty of discussion from others who’ve seen similar changes in perspective. u/LemonMeringuePirate commented, "I wonder if it's just easy, as humans, to settle into whatever we already know and not be as cognizant of things changing while not being obvious to us."

u/entire95 added, "My dad had the exact same mindset — just work harder. But once he saw what houses cost now vs what he paid? Whole perspective shifted real quick. Boomers didn’t all have it easy, but the game’s def changed." u/Resident-Mortgage-85 wrote, "Strong people create good times, good times create weak people, weak people create hard times, bad times create strong people. Boomers would, like it or not, fall in the weak people category. That's not to say they're inherently bad, but they grew up in prosperity and didn't have to face much adversity. This saying, to some might seem silly, but if you look at 100 year cycles it becomes a lot more reasonable."

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