ABSTRACT
The heavy emphasis which is laid in the housing policy review on equity is notable. This, of course, is the very stuff of politics. Playing fair – or, at least demonstrating that one is trying to play fair – is part of the politicians’ stock in trade. The inequities of the current housing situation demand a radical redirection of policy. Yet radicalism, though very much in evidence when the housing policy review was mounted, is strikingly absent from the outcome. Much of the difficulty attendant upon the formulation of housing policy is that housing differs from other areas of social policy (such as health or education) in the extent to which it operates within a market context. British housing policy is to revert to its more traditional Fabian character. In the words of the housing policy review, ‘any allowance or relief that can be set against total income before tax can be criticised as “regressive”.
