Affordable housing : into the 1990s

Reviews shifts in the form and patterns of housing provision, in public and government attitudes towards home ownership, and the most recent trends with their emphasis on private rented accommodation. The prospects for affordable housing of a reasonable quality are judged to be poor, as a result of increasing deregulation and demunicipalisation. The two major problems which will need to be addressed in the future are judged to be the increasingly impoverished status of those who continue to rely on public provision, and housing price/income differentials, the policy suggested by this article is a substantial building programme for low-cost social renting, which should reduce economic polarisation. -P.Hardiman