On 19 April 2017, Kath Scanlon presented at the Redesigning Social Housing against Poverty in Europe (RESHAPE) annual conference in Bozen-Bolzano (Italy). Her presentation, Social housing in England after the GFC: affordable vs ‘affordable’ (download PPT here), covered themes such as England’s ‘housing crisis’, changing nature of social landlords, and marginalisation of social housing and growth of ‘affordable’ – but not social — products.

Abstract:

England’s increasing housing affordability problem, widely described as a ‘housing crisis’, has become a major public and political concern in recent years. The proportion of social housing has been shrinking for 40 years but there is no political appetite — at least under the current government — to reverse this. Policies are instead addressed at making some private housing more affordable and at increasing access to owner occupation by allowing more social tenants to buy their homes. The government has increased its control over the financial affairs of social landlords, who are responding by concentrating on those areas of activity where control is less stringent.

More information about the conference on social housing in contemporary Europe, which sought to extend the scope of comparative research and address most recent changes, can be found here.

Click here to view the conference’s programme.

Click here to download Kath’s PPT presentation.