Inequality and the Commodification of Housing

The commodification of housing is the process by which the social uses of housing are being subordinated to its economic value. Commodification has expanded and contracted historically; we are currently living in an era of hyper-commodification, when the process is taking new forms and operating at new scales.

David Madden explains the causes and consequences of this hyper-commodification of housing, and specifically argues that commodification exacerbates the impact of inequality. Strategies for addressing the housing problem that rely upon the further commodification of housing are bound to fail. To address contemporary housing problems, he claims, we need to develop new strategies for the de-commodification of housing.