TOWARDS A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSING

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A philosophy of housing that seeks to satisfy the accommodation needs of the entire population, that rejects class privilege and racial prejudice where they may act as barriers to housing, that accepts that all people require suitable shelter, comfort, and privacy on an ongoing basis, and that delivers housing solutions at all links within the housing market chain, is precisely the new philosophy of housing that is now desperately needed.

Such an approach draws upon the longstanding principle that appropriate housing is a fundamental human right. Which means that everyone receives access to accommodation regardless of economic circumstances or how powerless one might be.

This philosophy views the widespread dispersal of suitable housing as integral and necessary to maintain a healthy society.

The kind of society that achieves greatness and that endures through difficulty is the same kind of society that identifies strategies for housing everyone and then implements the best of those strategies.

In contrast, a society that has large numbers of people sleeping in cars, parks, and streets because they do not have homes to live in, is not a healthy society. This is a society that has experienced a significant disaster which has not yet been rectified or is simply one that is in decline.

When the people, and not the rich, are in control of local housing then the priority remains to house everyone. Houses and apartments are viewed correctly as homes or potential homes. They are not viewed as investment vehicles, to be owned by people who will never live in them. Such an understanding helps shape a new philosophy towards housing.

When this new philosophy of housing is suffused throughout our governmental policies and programmes, then all aspects of the housing process will revolve around the human interest and shift away from the profit motive.

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Photo and artwork | Keith Salter

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