Abolish Price

This chapter comes back to the question of ends, and to the goal of providing decent housing for all. That goal is not achieved through the commodification of need. The value form of affordable housing only feeds price inflation in the circuit of capital. The popular response to global housing unaffordability has been to demand a return to social housing, but that path may simply expand a residual and stigmatised service. In this chapter, I aim to identify the distinctive characteristics of a socialised housing system and to map out means to these ends. How can social housing effectively disrupt the stratification of capitalist society and reduce dependence on the commodity market? How can its egalitarian effects be magnified and its co-operative and democratic achievements be advanced? Through this analysis, this concluding chapter seeks to turn attention to what is valued, and valuable, in the direct provision of socialised homes for all.