Making the case
Posted: May 14, 2014 | Author: julesbirch | Filed under: Economics, Housing benefit, Social housing, Television |1 CommentWhy do we need social housing? The answer may seem obvious on this website but too often elsewhere the one you’ll get is ‘we don’t’.
It’s a theme I’ve blogged about repeatedly over the last few years as social housing has been eroded from within and overtaken from without by the relentless rise of private renting. As coalition ministers never cease to remind us, the sector shrank by 420,000 in England under the last Labour government, but their own policies are merely accelerating the decline while they blur the distinction between affordable and social.
-> Read the rest of this post on Inside Edge, my blog for Inside Housing
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Jules Birch 
Yes we do need social housing, especially for wheelchair users that need specialised housing that private landlords will not provide. It is near impossible to get a five year tenancy agreement in the private sector, which is the minimum that the disability grant holders are looking for to make adaptations to homes to make them accessible. Many developers will not build bungalows for this group as they site the costs of development outweighing their investments. We also need social housing in affluent areas to house the policemen, fire fighters, ambulance workers, nurses, cooks, maids, baristas, care-workers etc to serve the needs of the better off that can afford to buy their own homes.
Ever community should have a healthy mix of home ownership, private and social rent properties.