Tackling slippery slopes and uphill struggles

Did you see the ski cross on TV the other week? It’s the newest sport in the Winter Olympics, and involves four skiers racing each other at frightening speed down a lethally steep mountain, flying over jumps, hurtling round twists and turns and generally risking life and limb.

Extreme highs and lows are what you'd expect from the Olympics, but unfortunately we've also come to expect them from the UK housing market and its 'boom and bust cycle'.

Whether the market is up or down, the shortage of affordable housing has the biggest impact on vulnerable households.

During a housing boom, people often take on risky mortgages to become home owners. In a downturn, the same households face the threat of debt, repossessions, homelessness, overcrowding, relying on temporary accommodation and competing for low-cost rented homes.

But what kind of changes might be needed to provide long-term, secure housing for the people who are least able to afford it?

Viewpoints published by JRF present two different perspectives on this issue.

Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), says it's time to "abandon the assumption that higher levels of home-ownership are good for society". He adds: "We need a more balanced approach that encourages people to make pragmatic decisions about whether to rent or buy."

Philippa Stroud, co-founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Social Justice, argues: "By allowing local need to dictate policy, by encouraging aspiration through ownership and worthwhile employment, and by ensuring that local authorities look to the social needs of all and not just those in the social sector, we can reverse the policy mistakes of the last few decades."

Who do you agree with? Or do you think something completely different?

• JRF's Housing Market Taskforce is looking at the underlying causes of instability in the housing market and developing ideas for how policy could address it in the long term. We expect to publish its recommendations in early 2011.
• You can find out more about housing trends on the Housing and Neighbourhoods Monitor website.