This essay, on why good housing is not utopian, was my Observer column this week. It was published on 7 May 2023, under the headline “If you think decent homes for all is an impossible dream, take a look at Vienna”. Why shouldn’t working-class people own their own homes? It’s a rhetorical question that has provided the justification for the transformation of housing policy over the past half century in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s “property-owning” revolution in the 1980s. “I want […]

Categories: Britain, Class, Politics • Tags: council housing, home ownership, housing, nimbyism, nye bevan, property owning democracy, social housing, thatcherism, vienna housing