Housing in the welfare state: Partitioning places and people

The language of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, social exclusion and social and spatial segregation has been prominent in policy debates in the UK in recent decades and has been associated with failures in health, education, employment, crime and other policies. But while these patterns are seen as creating problems the underlying trend towards increased social and spatial division has been speeded by policy changes. Cities, towns and neighbourhoods in the UK have been shaped and reshaped by the national and local welfare state especially through housing and planning policies. This short article examines the likely effects of the current round of welfare reform and policy change, and argues that they promise to further erode the effects of earlier interventions and create a more difficult context for social and economic success.