First time blues

Many key workers worry they will not be able to afford a home

BBC Radio 4's Inside Money was broadcast on Saturday, 9 August, and Monday, 11 August, 2003.

Inside Money examines the problems facing first time buyers who would like to buy a home but, faced with the huge rise in house prices, fear they may be locked out of the housing market for good.

 Listen to the programme

Vikki Smith is a staff nurse at the famous John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford. She works on the Trauma Unit, caring for people who have suffered serious injuries.

I am quite disillusioned, worried I will never own a place of my own Vikki

After renting a room for 10 years she wants to buy a small flat, but thinks now it will be almost impossible.

She told the programme: "Five or six years ago, I could have bought a house in my area for around £60,000.

"They are now selling them for £160,000. I am quite disillusioned, worried I will never own a place of my own."

Crisis

I think it is going to have to wait until it gets to crisis point before they will actually listen to us Vikki Smith

This is not just a personal gripe. Vikki organises a team of nurses on her unit and has first hand experience of people resigning because they cannot afford to live in Oxford.

She is worried about the knock on effects house prices are having on public services like health.

"What is going to happen when individuals like myself leave the Oxfordshire area and services begin to suffer.

"I mean I think it is going to have to wait until it gets to crisis point before they will actually listen to us."

Challenge

Vikki wants to stay in Oxfordshire, where she grew up, doing a job that she loves.

But like many other essential workers, she fears she will have to follow many of her colleagues and move to where property is more affordable.

She joins "Inside Money" to find out what the chances are of owning her own home, and in the course of the programme, she gets the chance to challenge the new housing minister about what the government is doing to help people like her.

Presenter: Lesley Curwen
Producer: Louise Greenwood
Senior Producer: Jennifer Clarke