The disastrous, unjust consequences of Britain’s dysfunctional housing market, which has been decades in the making, are all too familiar. Rampant house-price inflation and nimbyism have placed the property ladder beyond the reach of millions of young people. Private rents have soared, eroding living standards and fuelling homelessness.
Misconceived right-to-buy schemes have driven up demand but not supply. The stock of social housing has scandalously diminished at a rate that cash-strapped local authorities cannot keep up with. Repeatedly, governments have pledged to address a shortage of homes now estimated at 4m. Repeatedly, they have miserably failed to do so.
