ABSTRACT
Housing, unlike health, education and the benefits system, does not readily appear to rely on the commitment and contribution of the state to ensure its provision and distribution, so it is easy to minimise the state’s contribution to Britain’s housing situation. Whereas health, education, benefits, etc., continue to be provided primarily by the state, albeit with an increasing contribution by the private sector in distributing these services, housing is largely left to the market to provide. As Lansley suggested:
[housing] … contrasts with other areas of social policy such as education and health where governments have adopted a much more comprehensive and embracing approach. Housing hovers somewhat unhappily between the status of a social service and a private good.
