Homes provide the very fabric of a society, a core stability around which society can function. But for decades a housing crisis has been looming. And some claim it is now upon us as the era of ultra low interest rates has abruptly ended. Across the world the young spend an ever greater proportion of their income on housing. Half of all Europeans have some form of home insecurity, while it is estimated a billion people worldwide lack access to secure housing, threatening the lives of many and risking civil unrest.
Can we solve the crisis by creating more homes with incentives for builders, lifting planning controls, and financing public provision? Or is the structure of ownership itself the problem? Has private ownership contributed to an increasingly unequal society where many have significant wealth while others have nothing and would we be better to limit inheritance to a modest sum? Or is greater private ownership the solution and could the state provide a universal level of capital available to all?
Cultural anthropologist Kristen Ghodsee, housing crisis author Anna Minton, Deputy Mayor of London for Housing Tom Copley and economist and broadcaster Liam Halligan tackle the growing housing crisis. Mary Ann Sieghart hosts.