Live discussion: how can housing boost the economy?

Author: The Guardian, Housing Network   |  

Senior Policy Officer at Localis, Steven Howell, took part in a Guardian online debate on Monday 3rd September about how housing can boost the economy and how investment in house building might best be unlocked.

Other participants included:

Dr Richard Wellings is deputy editorial director at the Institute of Economic Affairs. He is deputy editor of the academic journal Economic Affairs and editor of the IEA blog. He is also a senior fellow at the Cobden Centre and the Economic Policy Centre

Professor Kenneth Gibb is a professor at the University of Glasgow. His research interests are the economics of housing and the analysis of housing policy, and is also interested in the way housing and related land and planning issues reflect differences between Scotland and the rest of the UK

Jim Bennett is head of corporate strategy at the Homes and Communities Agency, a post that he has held since the HCA was launched in December 2008. He was previously a senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) where he led its research on housing, communities, welfare reform and asset-based welfare. Before joining IPPR he was the policy manager for Shelter

Dr Tim Morgan is head of global research at Tullett Prebon, a financial firm which recently urged government to invest in a national housebuilding programme

Click here to read the full debate

Click here to read a round up of the debate