Housing Privatisation, 30 Years on: Conference in Leeds, July 2010

[tony at cultureshop.org.uk]

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT - Registration Open until 1 July

HOUSING PRIVATISATION, 30 YEARS ON: TIME FOR A CRITICAL RE-APPRAISAL

26- 27 July 2010, University of Leeds, UK

http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/conferences/housing-privatisation-conference.html

2010 marks the thirtieth anniversary of one of the most significant
government policy agendas in modern British politics - the privatisation
of public housing and the expansion of owner occupation.

Under the Conservatives, the Right to Buy was complemented by public
spending cuts on housing, deregulation and a range of
'demunicipalisation' strategies aimed at transferring the remaining
council housing to not-for-profit social landlords. From 1997 New Labour
embraced this 'roll back' agenda, preventing local authorities from
building new council housing while 'rolling out' new market-based
approaches, such as arms length companies, public-private partnerships,
and choice-based lettings, to what remained of the public housing stock
in return for new investment to tackle disrepair. 30 years on, today
less than a fifth of society lives in 'social rented housing' compared
to 1980 when one-third of the population lived in council housing as a
mainstream tenure of choice. At the same time, Britain is engulfed in a
crisis of housing unaffordability and insecurity. While we are told by
government and economists to celebrate the social and economic benefits
of owner occupation and investing in the housing market, the contraction
of affordable, secure, public rented housing in favour of reliance on
the private sector is seen by critics as a major cause of today's
housing crisis.

So, after three decades of housing privatisation in Britain, this public
conference calls on academics, housing professionals, tenants' and
residents' associations, policy makers, and campaigners to stand back
and critically reflect on the aims, methods and, above all, consequences
of this neoliberal agenda, and what lessons we can draw for future
housing policy.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

* Professor Peter Malpass (University of West England), author of
Housing and the Welfare State (Palgrave 2005)

* Professor Danny Dorling (University of Sheffield), co-author of The
Great Divide: an Analysis of Housing Inequality (Shelter, 2005)

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME - view the full programme on the conference website

* Over 30 papers will be presented on themes as diverse as the impact of
the Right to Buy on monotenure estates, the legacy of privatisation, the
troubling implications of the Private Finance Initiative, the
marketisation of social housing allocation and rents, shifting risks
with changing patterns of tenure, anti-privatisation campaigns, the
privatisation effect on the tenants movement, regeneration and
gentrification, grassroots resistance in London, community ownership,
asset-based welfare, Community Land Trusts, the future of housing policy
and arguments for a renaissance of public housing

THEMED SESSIONS:

* Housing Privatisation in Britain: Motives, Mechanics, Actors and Effects

* Housing regeneration at the crossroads: the end of the New Labour era.
Privatisation, hybridisation or sustainable mixed communities?

* Privatisation and the Tenants’ Movement

* Post-social housing: risk, privilege and control

* Alternatives to the Market

* Making Public Housing Work



REGISTRATION / ACCOMMODATION:



Registration for the conference is now open and will close on 1st July.



Conference fees:



Academic / Professional / Waged - £60

Student ­ £20

Concessions ­ no charge (limited number of places)



Please fill out the registration form and payment form online. You will
also find accommodation details there.

www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/conferences/housing-privatisation-conference.html

ORGANISERS:



For all inquires about the conference themes and organisation, please
contact Stuart Hodkinson, s.n.hodkinson at leeds.ac.uk, 0113-343-1820
(working part-time, Mondays to Wednesdays)



For all registration and accommodation inquiries, please contact Calum
Carson c.carson at leeds.ac.uk or 0113-343-8245



Conference organiser: Stuart Hodkinson, British Academy Postdoctoral
Fellow, School of Geography, University of Leeds



Conference Steering Group: Paul Watt (Birkbeck), Sarah Glynn
(Strathclyde), John Grayson (Sheffield Hallam / AdEd Knowledge), Quintin
Bradley (Leeds Met), Glyn Robbins (London Metropolitan University)


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