London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 18, 2025

The private housing sector is failing to meet social need

The private housing sector is failing to meet social need

AS THE temporary coronavirus crisis ban on evictions comes to an end, the government is facing demands for immediate action to halt the tsunami of homelessness that threatens one in five private renters.
A variety of factors intervene to make this particular crisis worse than the routine human disasters which attend the normal working of Britain’s dysfunctional housing set-up.

First up, an enormous backlog of rent arrears has built up over the last year. This is no surprise given that millions have been surviving on reduced incomes and that many people are finding that as the furlough subsidies run out, housing insecurity is added to their precarious work situation.

Second, the starting point for this particular stage in the housing crisis is grounded in the uncomfortable truth that one in four renters in the private housing sector entered this crisis already mired in poverty. Half the children living in privately rented housing live below the poverty line.

It is a scandal that in 21st-century Britain — in the fifth richest economy in the world — millions of families face the choice of skimping on food and fuel or paying rent.

Deep-seated structural factors make the housing situation a nightmare for any working family that cannot access cash or credit.

Britain’s housing crisis is rooted in the capitalist system itself and in the peculiar turn that British capital has taken in which a highly financialised speculative economy has ballooned into a permanent pressure for instability and housing shortage.

Despite the Tory attempts — some successful — to place the blame for the 2008 financial crisis on excessive public spending, the real root for the collapse, the profligate lending by US banks “secured” on unsustainable valuations on dodgy “subprime” property that fed directly into our economy, tells us much about the workings of the housing market.

Every landlord, whether they are a small scale buy-to-let speculator paying for their own housing by renting out, or a big corporation hoovering up ex-council housing stock, or an investment business banging up apartment blocks in inner-city sites, or a builder covering the countryside with “executive homes” for people fleeing the cities – they all know that shortage is what drives up prices and rents.

Official figures suggest Britain needs well over 300,000 new homes every year just to meet the normal growth in population and the kind of demographic changes which flow from the routine operation of a developed economy.

But even if this figure were to be achieved it would not meet the backlog.

The simple fact is that, as in so many areas of modern life, the private sector cannot meet social need.

Meeting the simple demand that everyone have a roof over their head and a secure place to call home has proved beyond the capacity of the capitalist system.

Controls on capital is the bedrock solution to the kind of planning that is needed to solve so many problems.

There are a million-plus people on council housing waiting lists. A massive investment in public housing coupled with extra powers to local authorities to unlock capital, regulate rents and housing quality standards, acquire vacant property and drive down housing costs is needed.

Every expert, from select committee to Shelter, knows what is needed. It is the political system held hostage to private ownership and profit that stands in the way.

If workable solutions to the systemic crisis of housing cannot be found within the framework of society as it is presently organised, then the question arises, where can we gather the forces, the ideas and the people to make the necessary changes?
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
×