Housing, Individuals and the State - The Morality of Government Intervention (Hardcover)

This text presents a critique of contemporary housing policy with a philisophical analysis of the role of the state and the capabilities of individuals. Offering a detailed examination of the role of the state as controller and funder of housing, the author argues that the state is not capable of planning and controlling a sustainable housing policy. The book opens with a discussion of libertian prinicples which place individuals and their action as the focus of social action. These principles are then used to develop a critique of the housing finance literature and the view that housing is a merit good which should be provided by the government. Housing need is seen being instrumental to choice and thus individual households are seen as being capable of determining their own needs. This leads into a detailed consideration of the nature, purpose and effects of housing subsidies. The book ends with a discussion of how the principals of voluntarism and localism might be used to achieve a housing system based on individual autonomy.