Housing Is In Crisis, yet the Coalition Does Nothing

The year has started with two pieces of good news to counteract an otherwise unending stream of grim revelations about Britain's housing crisis. First, the Scottish government has brought into force a law that will effectively end homelessness there, by requiring local authorities to house all involuntarily homeless people in settled accommodation. The second is that Newham council in east London is regulating the free-for-all in private rented housing by requiring landlords to have background checks before being licensed. Note that neither of these initiatives has come from the coalition, and therefore won't be applicable throughout Britain. But they're a start, and a promising one at that. The central message is that social inequalities are not inevitable: with enough political will and the persistence to see off pessimists, a desire for positive change can be made concrete – which is possibly why we've seen so little of it under the coalition.  Read more on the Guardian website.