Martha Dillon
Unlocking Funding for Good, Green Homes
29 August, 2023Retrofitting our homes is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve our health, and reduce energy bills. But under the current expensive and hostile housing system, people simply can’t afford to do it. We look at the deeper changes needed to attitudes, lending and funding models that would help restore [...]
The risks and rewards of AI in the housing system
18 August, 2023August 18, 2023 From Google Street View mortgage assessors to VR planning applications and open source renters’ rights tools, AI is changing the way we manage homes and buildings. There’s a very real opportunity for some of these technologies to improve our lives - but it could also accelerate the financialisation of our homes. The [...]
Explainer: what’s going on with housing?
1 August, 2023August 1, 2023 The housing system has been in chaos over the last 6 months, as escalating rents, interest rate hikes and softening house prices upend an already-fragile system. We break down the latest data to explain what’s going on - and why tackling the financialisation of our homes would provide a more permanent route [...]
Cashing Out: English landlords selling up in 2023 are set to make thousands in capital gains
18 July, 202318 July 2023 New analysis reveals the value of privately rented homes in England jumped an average of 432% between 1990-2022 - winning landlords more wealth than the GDP of South Africa. This is the outcome of decades of broken housing policies designed to turn homes into financial assets. This year, rising interest rates have [...]
How does the housing crisis affect different ethnic groups in London?
27 April, 2023April 27, 2023 In a new briefing, Positive Money looks at how the housing crisis is experienced by different ethnic groups in England and Wales, and sets out the urgent need for serious long term plans from policymakers to halt the invasion of our homes by financial interests, grow the social housing stock, and protect [...]
The housing wealth trap
23 February, 2023February 23, 2023 New data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has estimated that the value of our homes continued to boom during the second year of the pandemic. But despite this increase, COVID-19 still saw people fall into fuel poverty, homelessness and poor quality homes. We take a look at who gains when [...]
We need more than new homes: new census data confirms UK building stock is growing faster than population
18 January, 2023January 18, 2023 Positive Money analysis of 2021 census data has found that the British building stock continues to grow faster than the population. But despite this increasing new supply, homes in the country remain expensive, neglected and precarious. Debates about house prices still circulate around house building - or lack thereof. Last year, the [...]
What would A New Britain mean for Housing?
8 December, 2022December 8, 2022 Yesterday, the Labour A New Britain plan for the UK’s future grabbed many headlines. Led by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, it recommends a broad package of governance reforms, claiming to outline “a new relationship between our government, our communities, and the people”. Though most media attention has fallen on the plan’s [...]