ABSTRACT
Longer term social and economic trends have contributed to an increasing polarisation between the main housing tenures in Britain. The impact of contemporary housing policy and of the recent economic recession has strengthened this trend and as outlined in Chapter 4 parts of the housing market have increasingly become associated with marginalised groups. How these processes affect different cities and localities will however differ considerably. The impact of the recession itself is uneven. The structure and development of local housing markets are also different. Who lives where, both in terms of tenure and of dwellings within tenures, is affected by a number of factors. These include historical patterns of growth, demand, rationing and access; mobility between and within tenures; and the relative costs, reputations, quality and other attributes of housing in different parts of the market. Social divisions in the housing market reflect differential bargaining power. This in turn relates to economic status and class and issues of race and gender. Marginalisation operates against different backgrounds and takes different forms. In relation to council housing, in some cases it is associated with inner city areas redeveloped through mass slum clearance while in others it is associated with new building on peripheral green field sites. In these cases the design and age of dwellings are likely to be very similar. In others the least popular estates may be of very different age and form.
