Housing

Housing has become one of Policy Exchange's strongest areas of research. Our three-part series on housing (Unaffordable Housing; Bigger Better Faster More; and Better Homes, Greener Cities) received wide coverage and acclaim, and has had considerable influence on the political discourse on this issue. The first report, Unaffordable Housing, was named "Pamphlet of the Year 2005" at Prospect's Think Tank of the Year Awards.

Our work on housing coheres with our localist principles. Through rigorous research and international comparisons, we demonstrate that Britain's old, small and expensive housing is the product of a centralised and inflexible planning system. We also suggest policy reforms that would give people the housing they want at prices they can afford to pay, including the decentralisation of planning powers and linking central government funding for local authorities to their population size, thus giving them an incentive to attract more residents by offering good-value housing.