Over the last three decades or so, neoliberal policies have had a significant effect on housing sectors across a wide range of societies. State rental sectors, in particular, have been in the ideological firing line. Portrayed as inefficient, unresponsive, monopolistic and anachronistic, they have been typically marketised, privatised and downsized. At the same time, wider societal changes have impacted on their social role and social composition. The overall effect on many public rental sectors is now very familiar – growing social and spatial segregation, enclaves of concentrated and multiple disadvantage and increased stigmatisation. Against this background, Hong Kong's public rental sector has survived relatively unscathed and continues to accommodate around a third of its households. This paper examines the experiences and perceptions of Hong Kong public rental housing among those within and outside the sector. How are public tenants perceived in relation to ideas of social status and social equality? How do public tenants see themselves? The paper draws on a survey of 3,000 individuals in Hong Kong which is part of a larger study concerned with housing provision and social change in the Special Administrative Region.

Existing tenure trends amongst middle-aged households mean that the next two decades will inevitably see significant increases in the numbers of older home owners in Britain. This paper applies estimates of trends in home ownership amongst older households in England, broken down by age group and household type, to official household projections to derive detailed estimates of the number of older home owners up to the year 2011. Additional data are used to derive estimates of the type and age of dwellings which older home owners will occupy and the amount of unmortgaged equity which they will have available. The paper goes on to discuss the implications of these estimates for a range of policies and academic debates. In future, fewer older home owners will experience poor housing conditions but significant minorities of single older people, many of them women and households headed by a person aged 75 and over, will continue to do so. The amount and effectiveness of investment undertaken in middle age is a key determinant of the conditions experienced in later old age, and factors such as right-to-buy and involuntary early retirement from the labour market in the 1980s and 1990s recessions, will lead to an increase in the number of very old home owners experiencing poor conditions. There will be more demand for mobility but limited equity and the lack of moving opportunities will restrict the extent to which older home owners' aspirations can be realised. The paper concludes that older home owners will face a varied future in the post-Keynesian welfare state, with many pressures to use the wealth tied up in their dwellings to meet welfare needs.

The prolonged and pervasive recession in the UK property market has produced significant numbees of households with unsecured housing debt – negative equity. These homeowners are typically recent, first-time buyers and are concentrated in the southern core regions of Britain. Various aggregate estimates exist of the numbers of households with unsecured debt and the amounts of money involved; little is known, however, about individual experiences of negative equity. Here, in-depth interview data are drawn on to explore the different strategies adopted by households in varying social and financial circumstances. Findings are related to more general changes in housing market behaviour and to broader theoretical debates about the growth of home ownership.

The sale of council dwellings under the right to buy has been a prominent feature of the privatisation policies of the Thatcher governments. The impact of such changes in the ownership and control of dwellings remains a subject of considerable debate. Whilst there is now substantial evidence on the short term effects of council house sales, the longer term impacts on dwellings and households have largely been a matter for speculation. This paper explores some of the central policy and theoretical issues through new research evidence on dwellings sold by local authorities in the late sixties and early seventies. In particular it focuses on what has happened to households and dwellings since privatisation, the political orientation of those households and on attitudes towards and experiences of state provision. In general it presents a picture of continuity and stability rather than dramatic change and transformation following privatisation.

It is commonly argued that council housing in Britain is becoming a residual service. This paper explores the various dimensions of residualization such as the size of the council house sector, the quality of the service, the characteristics of tenants and the nature of the stock. Whilst changes in these areas are significant it is suggested that we must look beyond housing processes to fully understand the downgrading of council housing. Specifically it is argued that explanations must take account of questions of economic and political powerlessness, the marginalization of certain sections of the working class from the labour market and the uneven impact of the recession.