Current Housing Provision

Abstract

AbstractIn this chapter, we explore current housing provision and outline how we have arrived at the current way of ‘doing’ housing, including the governing, financing, planning, designing, building, and habitation of housing. We start the chapter by discussing the market failures of housing and neo-classical market approaches that are not suitable for providing the type of sustainable housing required for achieving a low carbon future. To address this, the use of policy by government in many parts of the world has been a critical driver of housing design, quality, and performance. However, many sustainability advocates argue that these policies have been slow to improve and do not go far enough, given the current climate emergency and other housing issues seen around the world. We discuss some of these key policy mechanisms, including setting and improving minimum performance requirements in building codes, using planning systems to require additional sustainability standards, and developing financial and other alternative mechanisms. This discussion sets the context for later chapters where we explore the range of challenges facing the housing sector and discuss current best practice in sustainable housing and policy.