Good housing needs more than good housing policy. Housing policy needs to be part of wider social changes towards a more equal, community-centred, environmentally sustainable society.
― The current focus on housing as speculation fails to provide the homes people need, pushes up housing costs, encourages bad design and short-termism, concentrates wealth among a small elite, and has brought economic crisis on a world scale.
― We need to move housing away from the market, and this means a major shift of focus towards social and environmental priorities.
― Various policies are outlined with the aim of moving housing policy away from satisfying “the market” and towards ensuring adequate housing provision.
― These include Land Value Taxes, expanded mortgage-to-rent schemes, better regulation of private renting and second homes, and better planning for Green New Deal quality housing.
― Housing policy is integral to the wider economy, so we must look beyond the moral imperative to the wider economic implications and the economic case for public investment.