There are substantial variations in labour market outcomes between neighbourhoods. One potential partial explanation is that residents of some neighbourhoods face discrimination from employers. Although studies of deprived areas have recorded resident perceptions of discrimination by employers...

Devolution and user participation have had enduring popularity as initiatives in public services in many countries. The 1997 Labour government renewed interest in the UK. However, how devolution and participation work and what they do, particularly in combination, are still not well understood....

Swedish housing policy was dramatically changed during the 1990s. A traditional formally tenure-neutral and generous subsidy system has been replaced by much lower levels of assistance, more directed at lower-income households and depressed areas. This paper sets the Swedish policy in an...

The paper applies the 'characteristics' approach developed with respect to the labour market in order to examine why the percentage of households who rent privately varies across the country. Regression analysis is used to show that the distribution of private renting is closely related to the...

Recent housing policy debates in the UK have shifted away from discussion of housing need to more market-oriented analyses of affordability. This article discusses the principles that lie behind the concepts of need and affordability and the ways in which they have been defined. It then traces...

This paper reviews the mechanisms by which the British government has introduced private finance into the provision of housing for lower-income households. It clarifies the range of measures that have allowed transfers from social to private ownership, both into owner-occupation and to...