Housing and Social Policy This book looks at the changing nature of housing policy in the UK and how it relates to the economy and society generally. Contributors to the book consider the effects of market forces and state action on low-income households, different social classes, women, minority ethnic groups, and disabled people. It is argued that housing is a key focus for economic development, for social justice, for everyday lived experience, for class struggle, for gender and racial divisions, for organising the life course, and for physical and social regeneration. A key theme of the book is that, although housing is inextricably bound up with all aspects of our lives, we experience it in very different ways, depending on our social status, our spatial location, and our own physical, mental and financial characteristics. Contributors emphasise not only the differences among individuals, however, but also how the pattern of these differences can be understood through a focus on housing in particular. In this way, what appears to be a uniquely individualised experience can in reality be understood as a product of a complex web of interactions of different kinds, which assumes a relatively concrete shape in the context of housing. Categories of class, gender, race, disability and age are therefore shown to intersect while, at the same time, housing policy itself merges imperceptibly with other kinds of policy, such as economic, family, health, education, crime, and environment policy, under the ‘catch-all’ title of ‘regeneration’. Consequently, both housing experience and housing policy lose their specificity and become generalised as well as individualised. The book contains a number of original findings and arguments, which should be of interest to both housing academics and policy makers, as well as to students of housing and social policy. New material is presented on the nature of housing and social inequality in relation to class, race, gender and disability, and new theory is developed on the causes of housing policy change, the ‘place’ of housing in relation to other policy fields, and the possibilities of transformative residence-based community politics. Peter Somerville is Professor of Social Policy and Head of the Policy Studies Research Centre, University of Lincoln. He has extensive experience of housing as a practitioner, teacher and researcher and has published widely on housing, social exclusion and community development. Nigel Sprigings is Lecturer in Housing at the School of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Salford. He has extensive experience of housing as a practitioner as well as more recent experience as a teacher and researcher. Both Somerville and Sprigings have taught professional courses for the Chartered Institute of Housing Professional Qualification. Housing and society series Edited by Ray Forrest, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. This series aims to situate housing within its wider social, political and economic context at both national and international level. In doing so it will draw on the full range of social science disciplines and on mainstream debate on the nature of contemporary social change. The books are intended to appeal to an international academic audience as well as to practitioners and policymakers – to be theoretically informed and policy relevant. Housing and Social Change East–West perspectives Edited by Ray Forrest and James Lee Urban Poverty, Housing and Social Change in China Ya Ping Wang Gentrification in a Global Context Edited by Rowland Atkinson and Gary Bridge Housing and Social Policy Edited by Peter Somerville with Nigel Sprigings Forthcoming: Managing Social Housing David Mullins, Barbara Reid and Richard Walker Housing Structures Shaping the space of twenty-first century living Bridget Franklin Housing and Social Policy Contemporary themes and critical perspectives Edited by Peter Somerville with Nigel Sprigings i~ ~~o~;~;n~~~up LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2005 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2005 Peter Somerville and Nigel Sprigings, selection and editorial material; individual chapters, the contributors Typeset in Times and Frutiger by HWA Text and Data Management, Tunbridge Wells The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Housing and social policy : contemporary themes and critical perspectives / edited by Peter Somerville and Nigel Sprigings p. cm. – (Housing and society series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Housing policy–Great Britain. 2. Great Britain–Social policy–1979– I. Somerville, Peter. II Sprigings, Nigel. III. Series. HD7333.A3H6769 2005 363.5´0941–dc22 2004017249 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-28366-3 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-28367-0 (pbk) Contents Contents Contributors vii 1 Introduction 1 Nigel Sprigings and Peter Somerville 2 What has the state ever done for us? 14 Bill Spink 3 Housing policy and social justice 43 Nigel Sprigings 4 Places, ‘folk devils’ and social policy 69 Charlie Cooper 5 Housing, class and social policy 103 Peter Somerville 6 Ethnicity, ‘race’ and policy issues 124 Malcolm Harrison 7 Housing, gender and social policy 143 Joan Smith 8 Disability and inclusive housing design 172 Jo Milner 9 Squatting since 1945 197 Kesia Reeve 10 Housing and urban regeneration policy 217 John Pierson and Claire Worley 11 Housing and social policy futures 242 Peter Somerville and Nigel Sprigings Index 255 v Contents vi Contributors Contributors Charlie Cooper is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Hull. He previously worked for a number of years in the housing association sector before moving into higher education. Charlie’s current research interests are primarily around conditions of domination within British social policy and the harm these generate. He also has avid affections for Sheffield United and African music. Malcolm Harrison is Reader in Housing and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. He has published widely on housing policy, particularly in relation to ethnicity and ‘race’. Jo Milner is an honorary research fellow based within the Scott Sutherland School, Robert Gordon University. She has an inter-disciplinary research, teaching and practice based background, which spans disability studies and housing policy, especially as they relate to housing quality and design. John Pierson is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Social Work and Applied Social Studies at Staffordshire University. He is editor of Rebuilding Com- munity: Policy and Practice in Urban Regeneration (2001) and the author of Tackling Social Exclusion (2001). He is currently writing a volume on neigh- bourhood practice, Going Local, which is to be published in 2005. Kesia Reeve is a Research Fellow in Housing in the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University. Since completion of her Doctoral thesis on ‘the squatters movement in London 1968–1980’ she has researched extensively on housing issues. Particular areas of interest include homelessness and the housing needs of vulnerable groups, and understanding housing market change. Joan Smith is a Reader in Social Research at London Metropolitan University, and Director of the Centre for Housing and Community Research. She has extensive experience in running research teams in the field of homelessness, deprivation and children/young people. vii Contributors Peter Somerville is Professor of Social Policy and Head of the Policy Studies Research Centre at the University of Lincoln. He is author of Social Relations and Social Exclusion (2000) and co-editor of Race, Housing and Social Exclusion (2002). Bill Spink has been actively involved in housing for over forty years. After a career as a housing practitioner with several northern local authorities he took up appointments in Further and Higher Education which culminated in his role as Senior Lecturer in Housing and Management Studies at the University of Lincoln. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and holder of a Master’s degree in Business Administration he now does part-time work for universities and local authorities. Nigel Sprigings has been a Lecturer in Housing at the University of Salford since 1996. Prior to that he had twenty years in housing practice including homeless- ness, estate management, area improvement and other aspects of housing sector service delivery. Claire Worley is currently undertaking her PhD on community cohesion at the University of Huddersfield, where she also teaches social policy. She has a specialist interest in the relationship between gender and ethnicity in community regeneration, and has several publications arising from community based research in the field of homelessness and regeneration. viii Introduction 1 Introduction Nigel Sprigings and Peter Somerville Ideally, one aim of any book with the title ‘Housing and Social Policy’ should be to consider, explicate and evaluate the ways in which housing interventions by governments help to achieve social policy objectives. This task would include elucidation of alternative policies that government may have rejected