Additional information
by Rowland Atkinson (Author), Keith Jacobs (Author)
The UK housing market is in crisis. House-prices are spiralling out of control, rents are rising faster than wages, and there is a serious shortage of new affordable homes. But what caused this crisis and what can we do about it?
In this book, established housing policy experts Rowland Atkinson and Keith Jacobs expose the true economic forces behind Britain's housing crisis. Urging readers to see the crisis as a result of the 'property machine'; a financial system made up of banks and investors, developers, landlords, and real estate agencies that prioritises the interests of capital over social need. An unequal system that has been routinely protected by the policy decisions of successive governments.
To overcome this troubling system and alleviate the crisis, the authors outline a series of innovative proposals that would improve housing conditions and tackle the inequalities expressed in relation to personal housing wealth. Allowing for the establishment of a fairer, more equal society, and a more stable economic future.
Written by leading social scientists, the What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...? series offers concise, up-to-date overviews of issues often oversimplified, misrepresented or misunderstood and shows you how to enact change.
"Short, sharp and compelling." - Alex Preston, The Observer
"If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you."- Danny Dorling, 1971 Professor of Geography, University of Oxford
Author Biography
Rowland Atkinson is Research Chair in Inclusive Societies at the University of Sheffield. His work focuses on housing and city life, with a particular emphasis on inequalities and social divisions. His most recent publications include: Alpha City (Verso 2020), Urban Criminology (with Gareth Millington, Routledge 2018), Domestic Fortress (with Sarah Blandy, Manchester University Press 2016) and House, Home and Society (with Keith Jacobs, Palgrave 2016). Keith Jacobs is Professor of Sociology at the University of Tasmania. His most recent publications include: House, Home and Society (co-authored with Rowland Atkinson, Palgrave 2016), an edited collection with Jeff Malpas, Philosophy and the City: Interdisciplinary and Transcultural Perspectives (Rowman and Littlefield 2019) and Neoliberal Housing Policy: An International Perspective (Routledge 2019).
