To what extent has housing policy contributed to social exclusion?

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To what extent has housing policy contributed to social exclusion?

Housing is not just about where people live it is how people live. It is one of the basic needs of life and is the foundation that without people can not begin to experience good health and participate socially, economically and culturally in society. In the past forty years changes in housing policy have had notable effects on society and the way people live. During Margaret Thatcher’s period in power increases in people’s social mobility were seen however for some who did not experience these benefits more divides were created as the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. It was from this period that the term social exclusion was first brought to the forefront of the political agenda. The rise of forms of social exclusion such as homelessness since the 1980’s have brought questions over housing policy and the effects it has had. In Britain today social exclusion is a major problem and a general consensus between all the major parties has been established that efforts are need combat it. In recent years it is clear that social exclusion has increased and although it is a problem that results from many factors it is still debatable the extent to what extent housing policy has contributed to it.

Social exclusion is a term that is seen by some social analysis’s as vague, so debate still remains on what it is and how it is interoperated. The current interpretation which the UK governments adopt seems to stem from research from the European anti-poverty programs, especially in the early 1990’s where the concept was looked and developed. According to the Scottish Executives web site (), social exclusion is a shorthand term for what can happen when people or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown. This means that social exclusion is about being excluded from obtaining any of the socially significant things that the majority can obtain. The term social exclusion is not to be confused with its possible features, for example, if poverty is the norm in a country this does not make people in poverty socially excluded. In Britain lack of participating fully in society in areas such as housing, employment, health and education all contribute to them experience social exclusion.

Housing can be a form of and a cause of social exclusion. According to Somervill (1997), social exclusion through housing happens if the effects of the housing process impair people’s enjoyment of full citizen rights or deny certain social groups control over their daily lives. Social exclusion could occur in housing in a number of different ways, for example, the planning and production of housing could be organised so that there are continual housing shortages, or so that poor housing conditions persist, or so that the price of housing remains beyond the reach of certain types of households. The homes people live can have an impact on their health, education and even their employment prospects. These ideas can be applied to housing in Britain to examine what effects housing policy has had on social exclusion. In analyzing Britain’s housing system looking at the overall quality of housing is not a good indicator of its performance. It is in the lower end of the income spectrum that failings can be seen and especially in larger cities were the effects of housing contribute to social exclusion.

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In Britain significant changes in housing tenure have happened over the last hundred years. In the 1900’s private landlord provided the vast majority of housing with the remainder being owned by the occupiers. In response to housing policy according to the national statistics website (www.statistics.gov.uk) by the 1970’s this trend had changed dramatically with half all houses being owner occupied and a third being provided to tenants by local authorities and only the remainder (15%) being provided by private landlords. These trends continued even further in the 1990’s with policies aimed towards increasing owner occupation which subsequently increased to ...

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