Social housing must be at the forefront of a new, more aggressive approach to solving Britain’s chronic shortage of homes
The disastrous, unjust consequences of Britain’s dysfunctional housing market, which has been decades in the making, are all too familiar. Rampant house-price inflation and nimbyism have placed the property ladder beyond the reach of millions of young people. Private rents have soared, eroding living standards and fuelling homelessness.
Misconceived right-to-buy schemes have driven up demand but not supply. The stock of social housing has scandalously diminished at a rate that cash-strapped local authorities cannot keep up with. Repeatedly, governments have pledged to address a shortage of homes now estimated at 4m. Repeatedly, they have miserably failed to do so.
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