Housing: the saving grace in the British welfare state?

TY - CHAP

T1 - Housing: the saving grace in the British welfare state?

AU - Bradshaw, J

AU - Chzhen, Y

AU - Stephens, M

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - A key part of the housing and poverty 'story' in the United Kingdom, and the focus of this book, is the social rented sector. Although social housing now accommodates only 17 per cent of the population, it contains 39 per cent of the UK's households that live in poverty (defined as having incomes less than 60 per cent of the median after housing costs) and 44 per cent of poor children in the UK in 2005/06 (Department for Work and Pensions 2007). The child poverty rate is much higher in social housing than in other tenures - 60 per cent, compared with 17 per cent for owners with a mortgage and 49 per cent in private rented housing. But do those poor families have the saving grace of good quality housing? Is that saving grace a characteristic of the British welfare state - something perhaps we should be proud about and concerned to protect?This chapter seeks to answer this question by reviewing the evidence on housing conditions in the UK, compared to other European countries, with a particular focus on poorer groups and those living in the social rented sector.

AB - A key part of the housing and poverty 'story' in the United Kingdom, and the focus of this book, is the social rented sector. Although social housing now accommodates only 17 per cent of the population, it contains 39 per cent of the UK's households that live in poverty (defined as having incomes less than 60 per cent of the median after housing costs) and 44 per cent of poor children in the UK in 2005/06 (Department for Work and Pensions 2007). The child poverty rate is much higher in social housing than in other tenures - 60 per cent, compared with 17 per cent for owners with a mortgage and 49 per cent in private rented housing. But do those poor families have the saving grace of good quality housing? Is that saving grace a characteristic of the British welfare state - something perhaps we should be proud about and concerned to protect?This chapter seeks to answer this question by reviewing the evidence on housing conditions in the UK, compared to other European countries, with a particular focus on poorer groups and those living in the social rented sector.

KW - housing

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-1-903595-85-5

SP - 7

EP - 25

BT - The Future of Social Housing

A2 - Fitzpatrick, S

A2 - Stephens, M

PB - Shelter

CY - London

ER -