It's now or never for social housing

摘要

With the Housing and Regeneration Bill rapidly making its way through Parliament, housing minister Caroline Flint's outspoken comments on unemployed council tenants distracted attention from some of the more important housing issues facing the UK in general, and local government in particular, that desperately need to be addressed. In the late 1990s, the dominant issue for social housing was tackling the L19bn repairs backlog. Ten years on, it is the shortage of affordable housing. With 1.6 million people already on council waiting lists for housing, and many more people living in overcrowded conditions with their families, something must be done.