CONTENTS List of tables ix Preface xi 1 Understanding housing finance 1 A nightmare 1 What do we mean by 'housing finance'? 3 Why do we need housing finance? 5 Quality and access 6 A political approach to housing finance 7 A simple model of complex systems 9 Understanding housing finance 11 Further reading 12 2 Need, choice and responsibility 13 Introduction 13 Need 17 Choice 26 Responsibility 32 Conclusions 37 Further reading 37 3 The importance of markets 39 Introduction 39 What are markets? 41 Prices 45 Property rights 50 The nature of housing 58 The nature of housing markets 61 Conclusions 67 Further reading 68 4 Government action 69 Introduction 69 What is government? 72 What can government do? 76 Housing subsidies 79 The purpose of object subsidies 83 Arguments for subject subsidies 87 What is social housing for? 91 Do subsidies mean sustainable housing? 94 Unintended consequences 95 Conclusions 97 Further reading 98 5 Influencing markets 99 Introduction 99 The overriding political importance of owner occupation 103 Subsidies to owner occupation 107 The most successful housing policy of all? 108 Economic stability and government intervention 110 Controlling rents: an example of unintended consequences 114 Decontrolling rents: another example of unintended consequences 119 Housing allowances: the creation of incentives 121 Conclusions 127 Further reading 127 6 Controlling housing 129 Introduction 129 The accountability of social housing 132 Value for money 135 Controlling social housing 137 Private finance 143 Funding new social housing 144 What is the future role of social housing? 148 Social housing and risk 152 Conclusions 155 Further reading 156 7 Complexity and choice 157 Notes 165 Bibliography 167 Index 173