Where the Other Half Lives : Lower Income Housing in a Neoliberal World

Housing has become a hot topic. The media is filled with stories of individual housing hardship and of major property-related financial crises: of crippling personal debts, rundown social housing, homelessness, mass demolition, spiralling prices, unaffordability and global recession. This book links all of these through a radical analysis that puts housing at the heart of critical economic and political debate. The authors show that these problems arise from the fact that houses are no longer seen primarily as homes for living in, but rather as a source of profit. Case studies from the UK, the US and other western countries are set into a overview of how housing has changed over the last few decades. The book also examines campaigns for better housing and explores possibilities for a different approach to this most fundamental of human needs. Housing is a hot topic. House prices have spiralled both in Britain and across the Western world, alienating millions of people from the property market. At the same time, social housing has disintegrated, as properties have been sold off or neglected. Efforts to fill the gap through 'affordable housing' - shared ownership or housing associations - are barely adequate. With the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the US and the collapse of Northern Rock at home, what does the future hold?This book is a radical overview of the housing crisis, and the root causes of the current turmoil. The authors show how privatisation and commodification has encroached into all areas of our lives, and most especially into housing, with disasterous results. Taking an international perspective, the book covers the housing sectors in many Western countries, particularly the UK and the US. It examines the campaigns to defend social housing and the possibilities for reform Housing has become a hot topic. The media is filled with stories of individual housing hardship and of major property-related financial of crippling personal debts, rundown social housing, homelessness, mass demolitions, spiralling prices, unaffordability and the 'credit crunch'. This book links all these together through a radical analysis that puts housing at the heart of critical economic and political debate. The authors show that these problems arise from the fact that houses are no longer seen primarily as homes for living in, but rather as a source of profit. Case studies from the UK, the US and other western countries are set into a theoretical and historical overview of how housing has changed over several decades. The book also examines campaigns for better housing and explores possibilities for a different approach to this most fundamental of human needs. Housing has become a hot topic. The media is filled with stories of individual housing hardship and of major property-related financial of criling personal debts, rundown social housing, homelessness, mass demolitions, spiralling prices, unaffordability and the credit crunch. This book links all these together through a radical analysis that puts housing at the heart of critical economic and political debate. The author shows that these problems arise from the fact that houses are no longer seen primarily as homes for living in, but rather as a source of profit. Case studies from the UK, the US and other western countries are set into a theoretical and historical overview of how housing has changed over several decades. The book also examines campaigns for better housing and explores possibilities for a different aroach to this most fundamental of human needs. Taking an international perspective, the book covers the housing sectors in many Western countries, including the UK and the US. It examines the campaigns to defend social housing and the possibilities for reform