The Long Council
Who was selected, and why
Why is it so hard to create affordable housing in large European and US cities, and how can it be fixed?
The central tension
Whether housing markets can deliver affordability through supply-side liberalisation or require direct state intervention to override market-driven gentrification and financialisation.
Selected members
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Will argue: That affordable housing requires direct government provision and finance, not reliance on private markets, with public housing as a proven model for serving those markets exclude.
Created the institutional architecture of public housing and mortgage finance through the New Deal housing programs, providing the foundational US framework for state intervention in housing markets. · Housing Act of 1937, Federal Housing Administration creation, documented speeches on housing as a right
Margaret Thatcher
Will argue: That property ownership creates individual responsibility and social stability, and that housing supply problems result from planning restrictions rather than market failures.
Implemented the most significant privatisation of public housing in Western history through Right to Buy, representing the market-oriented approach to housing policy. · Housing Act 1980, documented speeches on property ownership as social policy, cabinet papers on housing strategy
Lee Kuan Yew
Will argue: That affordable housing requires state-led development with mandatory savings, long-term planning, and the treatment of housing as infrastructure rather than commodity.
Built the world's most successful public housing system through Singapore's HDB program, housing 80% of the population in government-built units while maintaining homeownership. · HDB establishment, CPF integration with housing policy, documented speeches on housing as nation-building
John Maynard Keynes
Will argue: That housing markets are subject to speculative bubbles and that government intervention is necessary to ensure adequate investment in affordable housing supply.
His framework on market failures and the need for government intervention in areas where private markets produce suboptimal outcomes directly applies to housing market dynamics. · General Theory principles on investment and liquidity preference applied to housing markets, documented positions on public works
Elinor Ostrom
Will argue: That housing affordability requires diverse institutional arrangements including community ownership models that neither pure markets nor centralized state provision can achieve.
Her work on community-managed resources and polycentric governance provides frameworks for cooperative housing, community land trusts, and local housing governance solutions. · Design principles for sustainable institutions applied to housing cooperatives and community ownership models
Considered but not selected
Helmut Schmidt: Strong European practitioner but housing was not a documented priority of his governance record
Indira Gandhi: Relevant for development contexts but limited documented engagement with urban housing policy specifically
Milton Friedman: Would provide housing voucher alternative but his framework is already represented in the market liberalisation position