There appears to be an increasing reliance on the private rented sector for meeting demands in housing.

However, as your story on the grant to developers pilot indicates, there is a real danger of differing standards evolving between private and public sectors (4 March, page 9).

I fear the belief that market forces will act to set good standards is a vain hope.

As Niall Dickson eloquently puts it, markets can act to “disadvantage the disadvantaged. It is the better-off who traditionally have been able to exercise choice – markets are in many ways about survival of the fittest” (4 March, page 20).

Christopher Imrie, administrator at Richmond council Rent Deposit Scheme

Source

Housing Today