Latest Publications

High house prices are putting homeownership out of reach for many, but rising rents and insecurity of tenure make the private rental sector an undesirable long-term option. This report – the fourth in our series on the problem of housing – looks at the role social and cooperative housing can play and what the UK can learn from other countries.

The UK’s private rental sector has grown since the 1990s, but long term renting is still not an attractive option for many due to high costs and limited renters’ rights. In this report, the third in our ongoing series, we present lessons for the UK from across the English-speaking world.

The UK’s social housing stock is in need of regeneration, as many homes do not meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard and fall short of its energy efficiency target of an EPC C rating. This report models the benefits of investment in social housing regeneration, for the wellbeing of inhabitants, the environment and for local economies.

People in poverty regularly face a poverty premium in the insurance market. Not only is that unfair, it also leads to worse outcomes for people, families and society – and it risks trust in the market mechanism. In this report, we conceptualise drivers of the poverty premium and call on the government, the insurance industry, and regulators to establish policies that can protect people in poverty from paying more for coverage.

This report seeks to understand how the private rented sector might develop in the years to come, on the basis of a nationally representative survey of 1,376 adults in rented accommodation, and modelling of possible future trajectories for the housing market. Our survey finds a clear appetite from renters for policy action – both to improve the experience of renting and to help more renters to buy.

This briefing paper examines the role of “social value” in real estate decision-making in the UK. In addition to providing an overview of existing social value literature, the paper presents findings from a series of depth interviews with expert stakeholders in the real estate and investor community.

This provocation paper explores the case for an expansion of retirement housing in the UK. It demonstrates that specialist retirement housing brings with it a range of benefits to government, retirees and wider society. This “retirement housing dividend” should be quantified and considered by policymakers, and embedded into local strategies.

This publication examines the inadequacies of the current planning system in providing necessary levels and quality of housing, and urges that any reforms must focus on giving local residents authority over developments in their area - to help fix the housing crisis.

This report explores the subject of “mortgage safety nets” - support for mortgage-holders in the event of loss of income or employment.