IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v27y2022i2p525-531.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Housing Inequality: The Need for a Shift in Public Policy Intervention

Author

Listed:
  • Marianna Filandri

    (University of Turin, Italy)

  • Giovanni Semi

    (University of Turin, Italy)

Abstract

On the night of 14 June 2017, a 24-storey skyscraper in North Kensington, London, caught fire, leaving 71 people dead and hundreds homeless. Grenfell Tower was a public housing block, built in the early 1970s in Brutalist style, which underwent a controversial refurbishment in 2016. This tragedy in one of the richest areas of one of the richest cities on earth points to a contemporary paradox: the need for more affordable housing is far from being behind us and, indeed, is returning to the fore as a social problem. Our starting point is that housing policies in most European societies have gradually reduced their scope and, breaking with the post-war tradition of cross-class mass housing, are now limited to supporting the more vulnerable households. One of the many effects of this public policy transformation is that public intervention is now conceived as marginal, leaving the market as the main vehicle for service provision (housing, in this case). A second effect can be seen in public facility maintenance: cost cutting has trumped improvements. The Grenfell Tower fire draws attention to several aspects. Here, we will focus on three: the rise of a homeowners’ society, the link between social inequalities and housing, and the financialization of housing. The article suggests the need for a radical shift in housing policies, tackling the nexus between inequality reproduction, extraction mechanisms, and living conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianna Filandri & Giovanni Semi, 2022. "Housing Inequality: The Need for a Shift in Public Policy Intervention," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 27(2), pages 525-531, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:27:y:2022:i:2:p:525-531
    DOI: 10.1177/1360780418798377
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1360780418798377
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1360780418798377?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marianna Filandri & Manuela Olagnero, 2014. "Housing Inequality and Social Class in Europe," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(7), pages 977-993, October.
    2. John Bone, 2014. "Neoliberal Nomads: Housing Insecurity and the Revival of Private Renting in the UK," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 19(4), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Dietz, Robert D. & Haurin, Donald R., 2003. "The social and private micro-level consequences of homeownership," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 401-450, November.
    4. Chiuri, Maria Concetta & Jappelli, Tullio, 2003. "Financial market imperfections and home ownership: A comparative study," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 857-875, October.
    5. Donald R. Haurin & Toby L. Parcel & R. Jean Haurin, 2002. "Does Homeownership Affect Child Outcomes?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 30(4), pages 635-666.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miriam Marcén & Marina Morales, 2020. "The effect of culture on home‐ownership," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 56-87, January.
    2. Marek Bryx & Janusz Sobieraj & Dominik Metelski & Izabela Rudzka, 2021. "Buying vs. Renting a Home in View of Young Adults in Poland," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-31, November.
    3. A. Talha Yalta, 2011. "A Model of Down Payment Saving," Working Papers 1101, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Department of Economics.
    4. Gaetano Lisi, 2019. "Homeownership and entrepreneurship: a search-and-matching model and a panel analysis in Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(3), pages 673-694, October.
    5. Turner, Tracy M. & Luea, Heather, 2009. "Homeownership, wealth accumulation and income status," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 104-114, June.
    6. Munford, Luke A. & Fichera, Eleonora & Sutton, Matt, 2020. "Is owning your home good for your health? Evidence from exogenous variations in subsidies in England," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    7. Mariacristina Rossi & Eva Sierminska, 2015. "Housing Decisions, Family Types and Gender: A Look across LIS Countries," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 815, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    8. Amy Binner & Brett Day, 2018. "How Property Markets Determine Welfare Outcomes: An Equilibrium Sorting Model Analysis of Local Environmental Interventions," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(4), pages 733-761, April.
    9. Honghao Ren & Henk Folmer & Arno J. Van der Vlist, 2018. "The Impact of Home Ownership on Life Satisfaction in Urban China: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 397-422, February.
    10. Matthew Roskruge & Arthur Grimes & Philip McCann & Jacques Poot, 2013. "Homeownership, Social Capital and Satisfaction with Local Government," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 2517-2534, September.
    11. Blau, David M. & Haskell, Nancy L. & Haurin, Donald R., 2019. "Are housing characteristics experienced by children associated with their outcomes as young adults?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    12. Peter Huber & Josef Montag, 2020. "Homeownership, Political Participation, and Social Capital in Post‐Communist Countries and Western Europe," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 96-119, February.
    13. Cansino Muñoz-Repiso, José Manuel & Sánchez Braza, Antonio, 2009. "Evaluación del programa de Escuelas Taller y Casas de Oficios a partir de su efecto sobre el tiempo de búsqueda del primer empleo. El caso de Sevilla/," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 27, pages 277(22)-277, Abril.
    14. Jie Chen, 2013. "Housing tenure, residential mobility and adolescents’ education achievement: evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 50(1), pages 275-294, February.
    15. Williams Shanks, Trina R. & Kim, Youngmi & Loke, Vernon & Destin, Mesmin, 2010. "Assets and child well-being in developed countries," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 1488-1496, November.
    16. Grinstein-Weiss, Michal & Williams Shanks, Trina R. & Manturuk, Kim R. & Key, Clinton C. & Paik, Jong-Gyu & Greeson, Johann K.P., 2010. "Homeownership and parenting practices: Evidence from the community advantage panel," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 774-782, May.
    17. Sandra J. Newman, 2008. "Does housing matter for poor families? A critical summary of research and issues still to be resolved," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 895-925.
    18. Davor Kunovac & Ivan Žilić, 2020. "Home sweet home: The effects of housing loan subsidies on the housing market in Croatia," Working Papers 60, The Croatian National Bank, Croatia.
    19. Dwight Jaffee & John M. Quigley, 2012. "The Future of the Government-Sponsored Enterprises: The Role for Government in the U.S. Mortgage Market," NBER Chapters, in: Housing and the Financial Crisis, pages 361-417, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Leo Kaas & Georgi Kocharkov & Edgar Preugschat, 2019. "Does homeownership promote wealth accumulation?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(14), pages 1186-1191, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:27:y:2022:i:2:p:525-531. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.