From Britain's 'Generation Rent'to Hong Kong's notorious 'cage homes', societies around the world are facing ahousing crisis of unprecedented proportions. The social consequences have beenprofound, with a lack of affordable housing resulting in overcrowding,homelessness, broken families and, in many countries, a sharp decline infertility.
In Broken Cities,Deborah Potts offers a provocative new perspective on the global housingcrisis. Rather than failures by governments to provide adequate low-incomehousing, Potts shows how the issues have resulted from the rise of free marketeconomics, which has suppressed wages for millions of workers to levels farless than is needed for their families - compounded by the profit incentives ofprivate developers. Potts in turn argues that the crisis needs radicalsolutions, including the introduction of a basic income alongside a dramaticexpansion of public housing.
With the world becomingincreasingly urbanized, this book provides a timely and urgent account of oneof the most pressing social challenges of the 21st century. Exploring theeffects of the housing crisis across the global North and South, Broken Cities is a warning of thegreater crises to come if these issues are not addressed.
