XClose

UCL Events

Menu

Rethinking the UK housing crisis: options for reducing investment demand and overconsumption

21 January 2025, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm

Housing Lunch Hour Lecture

Professor Josh Ryan-Collins discusses the housing affordability crisis in the UK, highlighting the role of housing as a financial asset and exploring policies aimed at refocusing housing primarily as a place to live.

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

UCL Events

About the lecture:

In UK policy circles, explanations of the housing affordability crisis have focused on supply-side explanations. This lecture will argue that the demand for housing as an investment and financial asset is much more of a problem and consider policies that could return housing to be used primarily as a consumption good: a place to live and bring up a family. The lecture will draw upon work Professor Ryan-Collins undertook for the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) over the past 18 months as well as wider research.

About the Speaker

Professor Josh Ryan-Collins

Professor of Economics and Finance at UCL

Prof Ryan-Collins
Josh is an economist with research expertise in money and banking, the economics of land and housing and sustainable finance. He has a particular interest in the financial system and its role in housing markets and environmental transition. His books include 'Where Does Money Come From?" (NEF: 2012), "Rethinking the Economics of Land and Housing (Zed: 2017)" and "Why Can't you Afford a Home" (Polity: 2018).

Josh is also a Senior Policy Fellow with the UK Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government advising on housing affordability issues and is a council member of the Progressive Economy Forum (PEF) think tank. Prior to joining UCL in 2017, he worked for over a decade for the New Economics Foundation (NEF), one of the UK’s leading progressive think tanks.His work has been funded by the European Commission, the UK government, and a number of British and European philanthropic foundations.