ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that governments are deeply involved in the structuring of the housing market in many different ways. It also shows that how collective, mutual and communal organisations and institutions have been altered in neoliberal regimes to fit the market commodity ethos. The chapter describes that housing markets are made by governments that set the rules, formulate the nature of the housing commodity through the construction of tenure forms and shape and influence the main institutions and actors. Agencies in the housing market may be profit-seeking capitalist enterprises controlled by shareholders expecting high financial returns or collective, charitable organisations that are non-profit-making and controlled by their members who may seek a mutual or societal good in terms of housing output. The extent of the market can be influenced by the existence of direct state intervention through public housing or the fostering or tolerance of informal tenures.
