ABSTRACT
The conventional wisdom among political commentators and social scientists is that reformist governments – Labour, Social Democratic and American liberal Democratic governments – have signally failed to redistribute resources and opportunities so as to produce greater equality in society. The evidence on which this conventional wisdom rests relates mainly to income distribution and to intergenerational social mobility. This chapter presents an overview of the limits and conditions of political and operational feasibility in the housing field, and suggests some lines of policy which the next generation of reformist governments might wish to adopt. Concern for overall equity in the housing market should be uppermost in the minds of Social Democratic and American liberal reformers. In the past the absence of this clear priority has opened the way for the piecemeal adoption of programmes – often by local option – which together have produced serious vertical and horizontal inequities.
