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Why does housing inequality persist in one of the world’s wealthiest nations? This book exposes how deep-rooted political and economic forces continue to shape unequal housing outcomes in the UK. Moving beyond headlines and policy snapshots, it uncovers how housing inequality is embedded more broadly within political economy, tracing how global crises, austerity, and shifting welfare regimes intersect to produce today’s housing landscape.
Offering a fresh, holistic analysis, this book situates housing within the wider social policy context, arguing that meaningful solutions must address the complex interplay of social, economic, and political factors that shape both policy and lived experience.
Interdisciplinary in nature, the book connects social policy, housing studies, and political economy to guide readers in better understanding – and challenging – the perpetual injustices at the heart of the UK’s housing system.
Steve Iafrati is Assistant Professor of Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.
Lee Gregory is Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.
Preface
1. Introduction: why there is more to housing inequality than just housing
2. New Labour and the Third Way: a new millennium and the more equal society
3. 2007–2010: the global financial crisis and a new direction
4. Small government and the ‘Big Society’
5. Housing and welfare reforms
6. Core and periphery
7. Housing commodification and financialisation
8. Grenfell Tower and intersectionality
9. Housing vulnerability and social cleansing
10. Hegemony and housing
11. Reflections and the direction of travel
12. Conclusion