Johnston Birchall – författare

Housing Policy in the 1990s explores the deluge of Conservative legislation of the late 1980s and examines what its effects will be during this decade and into the next century. The contributors discuss and clarify the main aims of the government re-structuring of social strategy and assess its effects on British housing.

Housing Policy in the 1990s explores the deluge of Conservative legislation of the late 1980s and examines what its effects will be during this decade and into the next century. The contributors discuss and clarify the main aims of the government re-structuring of social strategy and assess its effects on British housing.

Building Communities: The Co-Operative Way, first published in 1988, sets the flourishing of housing co-operatives throughout the 1980s in a theoretical and historical framework that suggests that tenant control is the best way out of the still-problematic issue of housing policy.

Before the First World War, co-operative housing was poised to become a potent force in government policy, but instead municipal housing rose to prominence. However, alongside a growing crisis of confidence in state housing and a continued decline in the private rented sector, a new political consensus has emerged that has placed co-ops firmly at the top of the agenda. Setting out the argument for collective dweller-control of housing, Birchall demonstrates that the arguments for co-operatives are strong, based on a broad spectrum of political thought. He charts the early and recent history of co-operative housing, and shows how they provide a flexible and stable means of meeting housing needs.

Building Communities: The Co-Operative Way, first published in 1988, sets the flourishing of housing co-operatives throughout the 1980s in a theoretical and historical framework that suggests that tenant control is the best way out of the still-problematic issue of housing policy.

Before the First World War, co-operative housing was poised to become a potent force in government policy, but instead municipal housing rose to prominence. However, alongside a growing crisis of confidence in state housing and a continued decline in the private rented sector, a new political consensus has emerged that has placed co-ops firmly at the top of the agenda. Setting out the argument for collective dweller-control of housing, Birchall demonstrates that the arguments for co-operatives are strong, based on a broad spectrum of political thought. He charts the early and recent history of co-operative housing, and shows how they provide a flexible and stable means of meeting housing needs.

The book explores their history and current situation, measures the impact of the banking crisis, makes a systematic study of their advantages, compares them to alternatives (savings banks and micro-finance institutions), and investigates their supervision and governance structures. It provides hard evidence for the superiority of customer-owned banks.

Finance in an Age of Austerity will appeal to public policy analysts and political commentators, academics and students interested in current issues concerning banking regulation, supervision and governance. Social commentators and campaigners concerned with providing an ethical alternative to casino capitalism and social economists wanting to develop a critique of the investor-owned banking system will also find this book invaluable. It will be essential reading for banking specialists interested in broadening their understanding of a hidden sector that, since the crisis, has become much more significant.

Contents: 1. Introduction 2. The Evolution of Cooperative Banks 3. The Evolution of Credit Unions 4. The Evolution of Mutual Building Societies 5. The Evolution of Banks Owned by Other Types of Cooperative 6. The Performance of Customer-owned Banks During the Crisis 7. The Comparative Advantages of Customer-owned Banks 8. Some Alternatives: Savings Banks and Micro-finance Institutions 9. Regulation, Governance and the Need for Member Participation 10. What Motivates Members to Participate? 11. Customer-owned Businesses - the Wider Picture 12. Conclusion: A Cooperative Counter-narrative Appendix: A Note on Terminology BibliographyIndex