The housing debate

Description

The emergence of Britain as a fully fledged home-owning society at the end of the 20th century has major implications for how houses are used not just as a home but as an asset. The key debate in this important and timely book is whether social policy and people's homes should be so closely connected, especially when housing markets are so volatile. It will be essential reading for all students and practitioners of housing and those concerned with how social and public policy is being shaped in the 21st century.

Stuart Lowe is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of York. He is a political scientist interested particularly in housing policy about which he has written extensively. His books include Urban Social Movements and Housing Policy Analysis both for Palgrave/Macmillan and a best-selling text book with John Hudson Understanding the Policy Process. His recent research focuses on the relationship between housing and welfare state change.

"We are increasingly having to rely on housing wealth to fund many aspects of our life including retirement when recent experience of the housing market shows that this can be a risky strategy. This book offers a timely re-assessment of the role of housing in social policy. " David Clapham, Cardiff University "By giving us both the longterm and the big picture Stuart Lowe illuminates both the importance of housing to wider debates about welfare and the divides and contradictions inherent in today's housing debates." Caroline Hunter, University of York