The housing-wealth nexus: the new inequality paradigm and policies for positive change

ongoing

The primary goal of the project is to establish a cross-sectoral network of organisations across Europe, South America and North America to generate and shape conceptual and empirical evidence on sustainable and bottom-up approaches to address both the current housing crisis and the resulting inequalities caused by housing markets. House prices have risen dramatically, leading to a housing emergency that has been identified by the European Commission as one of the most pressing societal challenges. Evidence shows that both the share of households with no property ownership and the share of households with multiple properties have increased. This suggests that some actors are using housing as an asset to store and generate wealth, while at the same time exacerbating inequalities between those who own property and those who do not, the former particularly affecting younger generations. These cohorts face a lack of home ownership, stagnating wages and escalating house prices, with important implications for their life trajectories. Against this background, it seems crucial to develop and implement policies aimed at reducing housing inequalities, which is the overall objective of this project. To achieve this, the empirical and conceptual work will focus on three complementary pillars, namely (i) understanding market actors and their strategies to accumulate wealth through housing; (ii) exploring the consequences for wealth inequality using an intersectionality approach; and (iii) developing bottom-up alternatives and policy solutions for positive change. To this end, we approach housing from a variety of disciplines and methodologies, including geography, sociology, economics, public policy and urban planning. The network will draw on the experience of grassroots collectives, particularly housing organisations. They bring invaluable expertise in community and political engagement, making their involvement a vital asset to the project.