Housing quality and equality
“It might just be that it is impossible for public investment in social housing to keep up with the Joneses, when the Joneses are so much richer than those on low incomes.” Thomas Neumark examines how hard it is to improve the quality of social housing when society is so unequal.
What’s wrong with rising house prices?
The government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme could raise house prices by 20% in the next couple of years, according to a report by Fathom Consultancy. This is not being heralded as good news by everyone (although The Express has followed its time honoured tradition of solely reporting on speculation about house prices with a very […]
Housing wealth
“There has been lots of discussion recently about how much more the ’1%’ earn than everyone else. There has been less attention paid to how much more they own.” Thomas Neumark examines how wealth is more unequally distributed than income - including housing wealth.
Public services in the community
The measles outbreaks taking place across the country tells us a lot about how public services, such as hospitals and schools, can be reformed so that they have a better relationship with the communities in which they operate. Much has been written about how much the abuse and neglect that took place in Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust between 2005 and 2008 […]
Towards a popular left wing housing policy
The death of Margret Thatcher reminds us that she was the last Prime Minister to have a popular housing policy. The famous right to buy policy is still seen by many people as her greatest achievement. I doubt even their biggest supporters would list the housing policies of Major or Blair as among their greatest […]
Frontline voices: Thomas Neumark
In the second of a new series on voices from the frontline, Thomas Neumark explains why he blogs. Writing blogs can be a good chance for self reflection and networking for practitioners in any field of public service. Throughout my career I have always moved between policy and practice. When I was a housing officer […]
Housing ideas for local authorities in tough times
“Local authorities wishing to tackle major problems relating to housing find themselves in a tough situation.” Tom Neumark outlines four ideas that an ambitious local authority could adopt to address housing problems in the current climate.
Mortgage advice
Mortgage lenders and house builders are more concerned with rebuilding their balance sheets than in building the number of new homes the UK needs. Some facts for you; UBS, the ‘financial services’ company, have been fined $1.5 bn for rigging markets. HSBC have been fined $1.9 bn for laundering money from drug cartels. The new Governor of the Bank […]
Demand more than supply
“There is a lot of scope for policy makers and politicians to consider the ways in which the housing we currently have is distributed and not just focus on increasing the supply of new housing (as important as that is).” Tom Neumark argues that the real challenge for housing policy is how to make better use of existing housing stock.
Drugs policy needs the X-Factor not a Royal Commission
The Prime Minister has ruled out the possibility of a Royal Commission on decriminalising drugs. I have some sympathy for his position. Whatever you think about the question of drugs policy, doesn’t the idea of a Royal Commission sound kind of old fashioned to you? The idea of having a retired judge head up an investigation to […]
Stigma and stigmatizers
“The benefits system is Britain is fundamentally flawed. The way it is designed means it guaranteed that people who claim benefits will be stigmatized.” Tom Neumark of Dream Housing responds to a new report from the University of Kent on benefit stigma in Britain.
What can Labour learn from the Obama campaign
“Obama has achieved something that has proved impossible for politicians across the world since the credit crunch: he has been re-elected.” Tom Neumark sets out lessons from Obama 2012 for the Labour Party’s campaign in 2015.
On that which we cannot speak
“I do not think that politicians using different language can dramatically change the public mood. But, further to that, I do not think that would be desirable even if it were possible.” Tom Neumark reflects on the hope we invest in politicians - and why we might be looking in the wrong place.