Social Housing - invitation only
Speakers: Dr Timothy Leunig, Reader in Economic History, LSE. Tim will be talking about his ideas for making home ownership affordable to all - 2020 Public Services Trust is publishing his working paper as part of our series of thinkpieces;
Cllr Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council. Steve will be talking about his ideas for creating housing mutuals in social housing.
Chair: Ben Lucas, Director of the 2020 Public Services Trust
This roundtable discussion is on the future for social housing.
Today there are 4.8 million regular social houses, but with 5 million households on the waiting list, it would take twenty years just to meet the existing need.
Is social housing a social ghetto? When there is only a one in one hundred chance that someone in social housing will be working and have both neighbours also in work, there are real questions to ask. It wasn’t always like this. Before right to buy, the social make up of social housing tenants was similar to that of private tenants and owners and, in 1979, a fifth of the richest 10% lived in social rented housing. Then, people with middle incomes were almost as likely to be social tenants as owner-occupiers.
The current model for social housing isn’t working. But how do we provide affordable housing, when high house prices make owner occupation a distant dream for many?
Join Tim and Steve as they set out their own radical options for affordable housing.
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