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Who is to blame for the Credit Crunch?

Professor Peter Ambrose , a leading expert on housing policy, explains who in his opinion
is to blame for the chaos in the financial system in 2008. In this first installment he
provides his assessment of where the responsibility lies before he goes on in the next
episode to reveal that he had warned the government in 2005 about the impending
consequences of the unregulated financial market.

The Zacchaeus Trust 2000 memorandum to the Prime Minister on Unaffordable Housing (May 2005)
contained a graph prepared by Professor Ambrose clearly demonstrating the massive rise in debt
out of proportion to incomes. In his opinion at the time there could be only one consequence, the
one we are now facing.

Housing Affordability Standard - April 2008 (2,454 KB)

Professor Ambrose works with the:

Zacchaeus 2000 Trust
38 Ebury Street, London SW1W 0LU
Telephone: 020 7259 0801 -
Fax 020 7259 0701 -
Mobile: 0796 11 77 88 9
e-mail: admin@z2k.org I

It is becoming increasingly evident that our housing situation is in crisis. Shortage of low cost rented housing, overcrowding, poor conditions, escalating prices with, at intervals, severe slumps, negative equity and rising repossessions, problems of labour recruitment and retention for employers, irresponsible house purchase lending leading to serious financial crises and even bank failures – all these are aspects of housing policy mismanagement.

The provision of sufficient safe, affordable housing in good condition is not some ‘social extra’ – it is a vital part of the economic infrastructure of the nation. Why have we reached this stage? Because in recent decades policies have been driven by crisis management, short-termism and ideologies that ‘the market’ will solve all problems. It will not – and the consequences carry very heavy costs.

All these arguments are made and evidenced in the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust Memorandum to the Prime Minister on Unaffordable Housing (2005) – available at www.z2k.org 

 Local Government Association, Councils and the Housing Crisis, May 2008 (this report gives a projection of future Waiting List figures)

UK Housing Review 2007/8 edited by Steve Wilcox (the UK Housing Review published annually collates a very wide range of statistics in relation to all aspects of housing in the UK)

Professor Peter Ambrose BA, AKC, MA, D.Phil, FRSA Visiting Professor in Housing Studies Health and Social Policy Research Centre Brighton University Friend of London Citizens Associate of the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust

Links:
Profile of Peter Ambrose
Urban Process and Power
Article on Affordable Housing

Other Reference Links
(Please note that Wikipedia is not accepted as a source for academic essays)

The Economics of Free Market

The US Political theory of deregulation

The UK Political theory of deregulation

The UK Political theory that kept deregulation

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