MANY young voters complain that the housing market is set against them. House prices are so high, they can’t see how they can ever afford to buy.

Available social housing is as rare as hen’s teeth, so they can’t get a decent home at a fair price, and are forced into insecure, expensive, poorly regulated rentals. They are “generation rent.”

Bad news for them. But good news for a lot of the Tories’ supporters, big and small, who want to exploit them.

The Tories get big money from “luxury” property developers who are making billions from the rising prices that exclude them.

And the party can rely on smaller buy-to-let landlords who exploit the excluded renters as a solid voting block.

The exploitation of “generation rent” goes right to the top of the Tory Party.

Sir Edward Lister is Boris Johnson’s “chief strategic adviser” — he is Johnson’s right-hand man for the election.

If Johnson is re-elected, Lister is expected to be Johnson’s chief of staff, in charge of forming the government.

Johnson knows Lister from his time as London mayor: back then Lister served as Johnson’s London City Hall chief of staff and deputy mayor.

Lister also has a long career in property development. In a classic Tory move, Sajid Javid made Lister chair of Homes England in 2016, a government quango supposed to stimulate house-building.

The role was meant to be “non-political” and had a £68,000 salary. But everybody knew Lister was Johnson’s mate.

While working for Homes England, Lister had second jobs with private developers. He is still a director of London property developer Stanhope.

And from 2016-19 he was chairman of Ecoworld London. This is a joint venture between Malaysian property developer Eco World and British developer Wilmott Dixon.

It is a venture aimed at the new “build-to-rent” market: Eco World wants to exploit generation rent, to cream off the better of renters who are excluded from buying houses but have a bit more cash to pour into the pockets of their investors, and their directors like Edward Lister.