They’d like to move out of their parents’ homes—but they have nowhere to go and no money to afford it. For many young Poles, renting is only a temporary solution, and they don’t count on the government to help them buy a home. Instead, they assume they’ll have to figure it out on their own. Researchers from SWPS University examined how young adults in Poland live today. Their findings are detailed in the article “This Is Just a Tragedy: The Housing Situation of Young People in Poland”.
Housing Independence: A Key Step into Adulthood
Achieving residential independence—along with financial independence—is one of the key milestones in transitioning to adulthood. Stable housing is also closely tied to other markers of adulthood. Without it, young people face more challenges in education and employment and often find it difficult to consider starting a family. The ongoing housing crisis deepens existing social and economic disparities, resulting in unequal entry into adult life.
Most Young Adults Still Live with Their Parents
Researchers from SWPS University analyzed the housing conditions of young Poles aged 18–35 amid overlapping crises such as inflation and the war in Ukraine. Their analysis focused on three common living arrangements: living with parents, renting, and owning a home. The data came from the ULTRAGEN project and included a representative survey of 2,104 people conducted in 2023, as well as in-depth interviews with 26 individuals carried out in 2021 and 2023.
The results showed that the largest group (37%) of young adults lives with their parents or guardians. The second-largest group (nearly 20%) owns or co-owns a home without a mortgage or with a fully repaid loan. Over 17% rent an apartment or part of a house. Around 13% have a mortgage, while nearly 7% live in someone else’s property. About 5% rent a single room in an apartment, dormitory, or house.
Among those living with their parents, 47% said they don’t plan to move out anytime soon. The primary reason was financial limitations (cited by 59%), although over half (55%) also mentioned the comfort of living at home. A lack of housing availability on the market was cited by 18% of respondents.
“Cramped, But My Own”: Ownership as a Dream
For young adults, owning a home is not just the most desirable option—it also offers the greatest sense of security. Renting is widely seen as an unstable and insecure solution, especially during overlapping political, social, and economic crises that are driving up prices and limiting housing access for people who often lack job stability.
Poles are strongly attached to property ownership. In contrast, renting is associated with uncertainty—particularly because landlords can raise rents at any time. Often, landlords use the rent to cover their own mortgage payments. As interest rates rise, so do rents, creating a domino effect.
“Tenants feel it makes more sense to pay off their own mortgage rather than pay high rent to someone else,” says Dr. Justyna Kajta, a sociologist at the SWPS University’s Institute of Social Sciences and co-author of the article.
This mindset reflects social norms in Poland, where most people own their homes, and those expectations are passed on from one generation to the next.
The Boomerang Effect: Returning Home
The researchers also highlighted the phenomenon of “boomeranging”—young people returning to live with their parents after having previously moved out. Among those who had moved out, 43.3% returned to their family homes for at least three months.
Surprisingly, this trend doesn’t only involve people in financial hardship. Returns are often triggered by major life changes—such as job loss, relationship breakups, or career transitions—rather than purely economic reasons.
“Boomeranging isn’t new; many of the parents of today’s young adults also experienced it. It tends to happen during major life upheavals—divorce, single parenting—when family support becomes essential, regardless of whether you’re 20 or 40,” explains Dr. Kajta.
The most common reasons for returning home included job changes (26%) and convenience or comfort (26%). These responses should be viewed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many young people lost jobs or transitioned to remote learning. Economic hardship (18%) and longing for family (18%) were also cited as key motivators.
Is Housing Policy Failing the Young?
The study emphasizes that since Poland joined the EU and began adopting neoliberal economic policies, the state has retreated from housing provision. The market has become increasingly dominated by private ownership, while social, cooperative, and public housing has declined, and the rental market remains underdeveloped.
When young people consider moving out, they typically think in terms of personal or family financial resources, not government support. They are skeptical of state policies, which tend to prioritize first-time homeownership and mortgage assistance over more inclusive solutions like affordable social rentals.
“Polish housing policy is chaotic and mainly geared toward helping people buy their first home. But what young people really need is access to safe, affordable rental housing,” says Kajta.
The researchers suggest that future studies should examine whether the widely discussed housing crisis will lead to meaningful policy changes—and how such policies might shift young people’s expectations regarding housing and the role of the state.
“Housing issues have always existed. What’s different now is that they’re affecting a larger segment of the population—including people who were previously privileged,” Kajta concludes.
Source: Manager+ – Housing Independence in Poland Increasingly Out of Reach for the Young
