The Roof Over Your Head

What are the consequences of existing homeowners spending their housing profits?

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: The Roof Over Your Head will be broadcast on Thursday, 16 August 2007 at 20:30 BST.

Read the programme transcript

With growing numbers of young people struggling to find affordable homes, Gordon Brown has placed housing at the centre of his government's new policies.

But can we really hope to revive the home-ownership revolution of the 1980s, and if not will we see growing tensions between 'haves' and 'have-nots' in the housing stakes?

Zareer Masani asks whether more housing will ever be enough and how best we can ensure that the new homes we build go to those who need them most.

Thanks to Margaret Thatcher's historic sale of council homes in the 1980s, 70 per cent of us now own our own homes, and most of us have seen our initial investment multiply many times over.

But that's bad news for those who haven't yet made it onto the housing ladder.

The price of an average British home is now eleven times the average salary, and it's set to go on rising.

In Analysis, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper sets out the Government's strategy for building 3 million new homes by 2020, while her Tory Shadow, Grant Shapps MP accuses the Government of playing a numbers game, instead of tailoring new housing to the needs of local communities.

Geography professor Susan Smith and economist Martin Weale both highlight the dangers of existing homeowners spending their housing profits, instead of passing them on to future generations.

And the Government's chief advisor on affordable housing, the economist Stephen Nickell warns that soaring house prices are increasing social inequality in Britain.

Alan Walter of the campaign group, Defend Council Housing, says the only solution is a massive new programme of council housing.

And environmentalist Jonathan Porritt, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, warns that we can't solve the problem by just increasing the supply of homes; we'll have to cool demand as well by creating better rental alternatives to buying.

Presenter: Zareer Masani
Producer: Ingrid Hassler
Editor: Nicola Meyrick