Private rented houses : time to re-vitalise the market again

Abstract

The right to adequate housing as a basic human right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Further, "Housing is an essential factor in determining the quality of lives, the stability of communities, and the health of national economies", concludes Steve Mayo of the World Bank in a recent Policy paper. Housing policies affect savings, inflation, labour mobility, the balance of payments and government budgets. Thus, the question of housing is inseparable from the social and economic development of mankind. The objective of a national housing policy is to face the problem of providing housing for one's country in an organised and concentrated effort. Whatever may be the political connotation, housing is not a primarily partisan problem and the only way to create an effective policy is to act in an objective and technical manner; there is no socialist or capitalist approach to housing.