Should I Sacrifice My Future for My Familys House? AITA for Not Wanting a Government Job?

"AITA for not wanting to sacrifice my future by taking a government job just to keep my family's house? Pressure at 19 to secure housing dilemma."

Damjan

Published in Interesting
18 Dec 2025

Should I Sacrifice My Future for My Familys House? AITA for Not Wanting a Government Job?

At 19, OP is sitting on a problem that sounds like a “family help” plan, but feels a lot like a lifelong trap. Their dad has a senior government job, and the family currently lives in an official government house. The catch is brutal: when dad retires, they’re supposed to move out, and there’s no backup house waiting.

So the pressure lands on OP, not evenly across siblings, to join government service at a lower scale. The goal is basically to delay or fix the housing situation by getting the house transferred or re-allotted under OP’s name. But OP just learned that the house would be directly tied to the job, meaning quitting, resigning, getting transferred, or even leaving could cost them the house again.

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Now OP is stuck between family panic and their own future, and it’s making the whole situation feel suffocating.

Original Post

I’m 19. My dad works a senior government job and our family lives in an official government house.

When he retires, we’re supposed to move out. We don’t own any other house.

Because of that, my family wants me to join government service at a lower scale so they can try to get the house transferred or re-allotted under my name. The thing is, I recently found out that if I do that, the house would be directly tied to my job.

If I ever quit, resign, or get transferred, we’d lose the house again. I don’t actually want a government job.

I’m not interested in that career path at all. The main reason they want me to do it is just so the house issue is delayed or “handled.” I feel like once I take the job, I’ll never be able to leave because the moment I do, it becomes “you made us homeless.” I have siblings, including older ones, but for some reason the pressure is mostly on me.

I get why my family is scared, but I also feel like I’m being asked to lock myself into something for life at 19 out of guilt. I haven’t outright refused yet, but I feel really uncomfortable and trapped just thinking about it.