ABSTRACT
In their different ways the various contributors to this book have examined the nature of the current housing crisis and its impact on both consumers and, to a lesser extent, providers of accommodation. Each chapter has identified a serious and worsening situation, the full severity of which is felt most acutely by some of the most vulnerable and least powerful groups in British society. In this final chapter the intention is, first, to pull together in summary form some of the themes emerging from the earlier analysis; second, to put forward some ideas about what kinds of policies are needed to alleviate current problems, and third, to reexamine the notion of crisis, recognising the important distinction between the private crises of homelessness, overcrowding, mortgage arrears etc., experienced by individuals and families, and the public crisis that can only occur as a result of political action to change housing policy.
