With land, food and water running out for the human race, we need to start working on sharing more systematically and fairly. In housing in Britain, with a completely unregulated market, that means clubbing together to afford mortgage loans. That doesn't just mean sharing the financial commitment: it also means becoming your own landlords and learning to work hard together to administer and maintain the property you occupy. There is no longer a "landlord:" who will take care of a blocked drain or a slipped slate It means getting to grips with the real cost of running a building. (And forget that old chant about "rent being wasted money". A lot of rent goes on maintenance; and only if the landlord is a bastard or overcharging, does he make a profit once he has serviced his debts and mended the house.
What it amounts to is learning to take responsibility - as chair, secretary, treasurer, housekeeper - like a grown-up; not always looking for a "leader" or Mummy or Daddy to see to everything. Government from the grassroots up.
