Housing Services Delivery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Housing Services Delivery - Essay Example The change of social housing organizations was hastened by a number of political, economical, and social factors. The first group of political accelerators comprises of governmental policies and regulations aimed at the increase of private housing in the UK. In the post-WWII period the housing policy of the UK government was focused on rebuilding, and providing new homes for the population. However, three reasons were hindering rebuilding processes: first, the government could only spend on housing what the country could afford; second, governmental investments in housing policy required better targeting on the neediest classes of population; and third, the efficient use of public spending were ought to be achieved through drawing in private funding (Collier and Luther, 2002). Thatcher's conservative policy on housing included two main phases: the extension of home ownership and the privatisation of rented housing. Through the increase of private housing among the population the gove rnment was able to focus on social groups, which could not afford to buy a house. Tax incentives, efficiency agenda, and right to buy policy was the next step to increase home ownership among the population: "The rights of council tenants and, later some housing association tenants, to buy their homes under the Right to Buy and Right to Acquire policies has enabled significant numbers of people (over 2 million) become owner occupiers" (Shelter, 2005). Nevertheless it had a negative impact on the supply of affordable housing for rent in many UK regions, "where the provision of new affordable homes has failed to keep pace with the numbers being lost through sales" (Shelter, 2005). The new problem has arisen: in 2002 Britain saw the lowest number of new houses built(measured in starts) since the end of World War II (Cameron, 2003). The housing supply was short, but moreover it mismatched the demand in the cities and regions. Thus, along with the stimulation of private housing governmental policies have created several obstacles on the development of UK housing marke t. Economic Factors Economical factors that lead to the shift from the welfare to contractual resource management in the housing industry identified in the literature are connected to further development of globalization. The success of Western economy, and the spread of the US way of life has entailed the rapid development of private sector in housing. It also has another effect. World Trade Organisation not only reduces barriers to international trade, but also increases the commercial exploitation of public services, including social housing. Pollock and Price (2000) indicate that market-orientated policies including privatisation of public service infrastructure through public-private partnerships is a part of a larger trend of privatization, and redefining of public goods as private responsibilities. The hopes of WTO are concerned with the commercial exploitation of public funding streams, and promoting the commercial interests of transnational corporations. Promotion of privatisation leads to the increase of competition among housing organisations as transatlantic players enter the housing market of the UK (Pollock and Price, 2000). On the one side it allows government to reduce funding to minimal, allowing private owners