UK Housing Policy: Sold Down the River

Peter Ambrose's Sold Down the River Programme Five: Conditions, crowding and costs

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Notes 2.30 - the St Mary's RC Primary School Battersea survey, carried out in October 2008 by South London Citizens, showed a shocking level of statutory overcrowding among the families of children at the school - about 65% of parents reported that this seriously affected the work of their children as a result of lack of space to work at home, lack of quiet, increased tension, crowding of bedrooms affecting sleep and not being able to invite friends to visit or stay.   2.40 - a comprehensive attempt to identify the costs of bad housing conditions to society is being carried out by the Building Research Establishment at Watford - the Milestone 3 Report produced in April 2008 identifies the range of hazards and risks arising from poor housing and begins the task of attributing a public cost to each of them - the project is ongoing - one important outcome is the HHSRS (Housing Health and Safety Rating System) now being adopted by a number of housing authorities at assess the safety standards in their housing stock   5.00 - the costs to public budgets that can reasonably be assigned partly to poor housing conditions were first systematised by the author in the early 1990s (and have been set out with some costings in the BRE report cited above) - he termed these costs the 'exported costs' of poor housing because they are costs generated by under-investment in housing but exported to other budgets - a matrix setting them out under several categorisation schemes can be found in Appendix 14 of the Z2K Memorandum to the Prime Minister on Unaffordable Housing of 2005 5.20 - for example the % of public spending devoted to housing investment fell from 6.1% in 1980/81 to 1.2% in 2000/1 - further evidence of falling investment in housing, using a variety of measures, is presented in Appendix 4 of the Z2K Memorandum 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 Housing Affordability Standard - April 2008 (2,454 KB) Professor Ambrose works with the Zacchaeus 2000 Trust and their principles are as follows: We will combat poverty, and related ill health and educational underachievement; We will promote the improvement of living and working conditions on the basis of economic and social justice in pursuit of a society that is fully inclusive of people of every race, colour and creed through the provision of evidence based policy alternatives to government. We will pursue policies that are rooted in the experiences of the disadvantaged and excluded people of the United Kingdom, and the work of NGOs among them. They will be designed to reform the structures that create those conditions. We oppose discrimination and inequality, both between men and women and between generations. Aware of the pressures placed on the national economy and society by the globalised free market we will promote an economy in the United Kingdom aiming to generate the conditions of full employment in which all can share the financial burdens and opportunities of a democratic nation. We will operate without allegiance to any political party while promoting, vigorously, policies that are consistent with this statement of principles to all political parties and to the government of the day. 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 Fair Use Notice This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. HRTVSH The views expressed by artists and musicians on Human Rights TV do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the management and staff of Human Rights TV or hrtvsh. Views and opinions expressed on other sites which may link to Human Rights TV or be linked to by Human Rights TV are not the responsibility or liability of Human Rights TV or hrtvsh. Human Rights TV and hrtvsh are not responsible for the content of external internet sites