Mary Robertson

Abstract

Noting the recent resurgence of housing as a political issue, this article takes a historic view of the origins of the current housing crisis. While the foundations of the contemporary housing system were laid in the period following the First World War, the roots of the crisis lie in two developments in the 1980s: the privatisation of the social housing stock through the Right to Buy and the growth of mortgage lending in response to financial liberalisation. These two changes combined to produce an upsurge in ground rent on residential land and a restructuring of housing consumption and production around the pursuit of this ground rent. This article ends by outlining a range of policy measures and considering the prospects for their implementation.

From: Capital & Class 2017 41 (2)

Editor: Wang Yi