Executive SummaryDiscussion of the UK's housing crisis is of long date, and tends to focus on a simple story about a mismatch in housing supply and demand and the consequent need to build more homes. Yet the reality is more complex with multiple sub-plots including social housing, stress in the private rented sector, benefits, subsidies and ultimately taxation of home ownership.At the bottom of the market, the crisis is real and acute, as manifested in a sharp increase in homelessness and rough sleeping. The inescapable answer is to increase the depleted stock of social housing and widen eligibility criteria. An increase of 100,000 social units a year in England would help address this problem, as well as alleviate the financial squeeze on tenants of the private rented sector, whose number has grown sharply in the past 15 years in tandem with a steep rise in the housing benefit bill. Recent efforts to curb housing benefit have further increased distress, so it will be necessary to consider increasing benefits again alongside regulatory interventions with private landlords.In the home ownership market, recent government intervention has taken the form of the much-criticised Help-to-Buy Equity Loan scheme. This market policy to support new-build homes should be wound down and replaced by a scheme to endow all young people with a capital sum that they could use for second-hand homes as well. More generally, a more sophisticated approach to planning home-building is needed, both for assessing overall numbers and their regional distribution and in financing the supporting infrastructure.But none of these measures is a panacea for a housing crisis that is in large part a symptom of problems in the wider economy, such as low relative wages for young people, a lack of clarity about environmental issues, and failing places. A successful policy package to address the distorted structure of the housing market must also grasp the most difficult nettle of all – namely the way the tax benefits of owner-occupation incentivise overconsumption of housing and a widening wealth gap between renters and home owners, and between owners in different parts of the country. If we spend more to help those who struggle to afford decent housing, then it is only just to raise more taxation from those who benefit from restrictions on housing supply – whether through reform to council tax, a wider wealth tax or a limited form of Capital Gains Tax on principal residences.

中文翻译：

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重新设计住房政策

执行摘要对英国住房危机的讨论由来已久，并且往往集中在一个简单的故事上，即住房供需不匹配以及因此需要建造更多房屋。然而，现实更加复杂，包括社会住房、私人租赁部门的压力、福利、补贴以及最终的住房所有权税收等多个子情节。在市场底部，危机是真实而尖锐的，表现为无家可归和露宿街头的人数急剧增加。不可避免的答案是增加社会住房的枯竭存量并扩大资格标准。英格兰每年增加 100,000 个社会单位将有助于解决这个问题，并缓解私人租赁部门租户的财务紧缩，在过去 15 年中，随着住房福利法案的急剧增加，其人数急剧增加。最近遏制住房福利的努力进一步增加了压力，因此有必要在对私人房东进行监管干预的同时再次考虑增加福利。在房屋所有权市场上，最近政府干预采取了备受批评的帮助-购买股票贷款计划。这种支持新建房屋的市场政策应该被取消，取而代之的是一项计划，为所有年轻人提供一笔资金，他们也可以将其用于二手房。更一般地说，需要一种更复杂的方法来规划房屋建设，以评估总体数量及其区域分布以及为支持性基础设施提供资金。但这些措施都不是解决住房危机的灵丹妙药，住房危机在很大程度上是更广泛经济问题的征兆，例如年轻人的相对工资较低、环境问题缺乏明确性以及地方不景气。解决住房市场扭曲结构的成功政策方案还必须抓住最困难的问题——即自住的税收优惠刺激住房过度消费的方式，以及租房者和房主之间不断扩大的贫富差距，以及全国不同地区的业主。如果我们花更多的钱来帮助那些难以负担得起体面住房的人，那么就只是向那些从住房供应限制中受益的人提高税收——无论是通过改革市政税，