CIH President: Housing Creating An Unequal Society

CIH President, Steve Benson, will use his opening address to call on the sector to shape a new future for housing, which would require not only major changes to the housing market, but also efforts to change public attitudes on different forms of housing.

In his speech, Mr Benson will say that there are growing numbers of people who have virtually no housing options available to them, and the issue will only get worse with the current boom-bust approach to housing - characterised by periods of unaffordable price increases, followed by negative equity.

Mr Benson will go on to say that there needs to be new and radical approaches to housing which embrace issues such as tax, how housing is allocated and creating a level playing field for renting. He will also moot setting a target for reducing housing waiting lists, NHS-style.