Tim White
@timwhite100.bsky.social
Social scientist studying housing, land, property and power.
Queen Mary / London School of Economics
www.timwhite.work
Queen Mary / London School of Economics
www.timwhite.work
Pinned
Tim White
@timwhite100.bsky.social
· Jul 7
Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It's a political timebomb | Tim White
We’ve been living in a great experiment: can finance provide basic human rights such as housing? The answer is increasingly no, says researcher and writer Tim White
www.theguardian.com
I have an article in the Guardian today on how finance capitalism is wreaking havoc on housing across Europe www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tim White
Absolutely going to this! Cutting edge stuff on #housing problems and prospects from Ifigeneia Dimitrakou (University of Zurich) and @timwhite100.bsky.social (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Join the Society's Economic Geography Research Group for an upcoming webinar:
'Emerging voices in economic geography: housing' will take place on Thursday 20 November.
Register here: https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/emerging-voices-in-economic-geography-session-one
'Emerging voices in economic geography: housing' will take place on Thursday 20 November.
Register here: https://www.rgs.org/events/upcoming-events/emerging-voices-in-economic-geography-session-one
Emerging voices in economic geography: housing
A new webinar series showcasing fresh perspectives from early career researchers. This webinar's theme: housing.
www.rgs.org
November 14, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Absolutely going to this! Cutting edge stuff on #housing problems and prospects from Ifigeneia Dimitrakou (University of Zurich) and @timwhite100.bsky.social (Queen Mary University of London, UK)
Reposted by Tim White
Recommended reading and timely, too, as the British Chancellor continues to falsely assume that pandering to financial fractions in the City will result in the investment which is so desperately needed across economy and society
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Subordinating ‘alt-finance’: How British venture capital became dependent on the US | Finance and Society | Cambridge Core
Subordinating ‘alt-finance’: How British venture capital became dependent on the US
www.cambridge.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Recommended reading and timely, too, as the British Chancellor continues to falsely assume that pandering to financial fractions in the City will result in the investment which is so desperately needed across economy and society
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Tim White
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:56 AM
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Reposted by Tim White
New paper about institutional investors, maintenance of asset values, social struggles and rental housing in Sweden:
MAINTAINING RENTAL HOUSING AS AN ASSET: Exploring Institutional Investors in Sweden’s Rental Market
Institutional investors have asserted significant power over rental markets across the transatlantic. However, their stronghold has been contested after rising interest rates in 2022. In this article...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:15 AM
New paper about institutional investors, maintenance of asset values, social struggles and rental housing in Sweden:
Reposted by Tim White
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf my co-organisers, I am writing to invite abstract submissions for the ‘Re-centring land conflicts in the post-globalisation order’ mini-conference (MC11) as part of the SASE 2026 Conference in Bordeaux (1-3 July).
sase.org/events/2026-...
Deadline: December 16th
On behalf my co-organisers, I am writing to invite abstract submissions for the ‘Re-centring land conflicts in the post-globalisation order’ mini-conference (MC11) as part of the SASE 2026 Conference in Bordeaux (1-3 July).
sase.org/events/2026-...
Deadline: December 16th
October 27, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf my co-organisers, I am writing to invite abstract submissions for the ‘Re-centring land conflicts in the post-globalisation order’ mini-conference (MC11) as part of the SASE 2026 Conference in Bordeaux (1-3 July).
sase.org/events/2026-...
Deadline: December 16th
On behalf my co-organisers, I am writing to invite abstract submissions for the ‘Re-centring land conflicts in the post-globalisation order’ mini-conference (MC11) as part of the SASE 2026 Conference in Bordeaux (1-3 July).
sase.org/events/2026-...
Deadline: December 16th
Reposted by Tim White
Published today on #WorldHomelessDay: my book Debt Trap Nation – a deep dive into how government policy is driving families into homelessness & debt.
All royalties to @seacharity.bsky.social 💜
Families aren't failing. They're being failed.
📖 www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
#DebtTrapNation
All royalties to @seacharity.bsky.social 💜
Families aren't failing. They're being failed.
📖 www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
#DebtTrapNation
October 10, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Published today on #WorldHomelessDay: my book Debt Trap Nation – a deep dive into how government policy is driving families into homelessness & debt.
All royalties to @seacharity.bsky.social 💜
Families aren't failing. They're being failed.
📖 www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
#DebtTrapNation
All royalties to @seacharity.bsky.social 💜
Families aren't failing. They're being failed.
📖 www.agendapub.com/page/detail/...
#DebtTrapNation
Reposted by Tim White
The attempt to financialize psychedelics has collided with the unruliness of these substances both as therapeutic assets and as vectors of cultural resistance. Our article of the week traces the rise and fall of commercial psychedelics.
By Sandy B. Hager in @finandsoc.bsky.social
buff.ly/7QsCdDI
By Sandy B. Hager in @finandsoc.bsky.social
buff.ly/7QsCdDI
September 20, 2025 at 11:01 AM
The attempt to financialize psychedelics has collided with the unruliness of these substances both as therapeutic assets and as vectors of cultural resistance. Our article of the week traces the rise and fall of commercial psychedelics.
By Sandy B. Hager in @finandsoc.bsky.social
buff.ly/7QsCdDI
By Sandy B. Hager in @finandsoc.bsky.social
buff.ly/7QsCdDI
Reposted by Tim White
In Britain, every time you...
— turn on a tap
— flip a light switch
— board a train or bus
— post a letter
— drop your child at nursery
... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power.
🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.
— turn on a tap
— flip a light switch
— board a train or bus
— post a letter
— drop your child at nursery
... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power.
🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.
September 18, 2025 at 8:04 AM
In Britain, every time you...
— turn on a tap
— flip a light switch
— board a train or bus
— post a letter
— drop your child at nursery
... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power.
🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.
— turn on a tap
— flip a light switch
— board a train or bus
— post a letter
— drop your child at nursery
... you take part in a system designed to extract wealth & concentrate power.
🧵 From cradle to grave, this is how a failed experiment has shaped your life.
Reposted by Tim White
I got asked to write about the Gaza Riviera Plan + argue it should be understood within the settler colonial logic of elimination + made possible through urbicide and expulsion
theconversation.com/the-gaza-riv...
theconversation.com/the-gaza-riv...
The ‘Gaza Riviera’ is a fantasy plan that relies on urbicide and expulsion
The leaked redevelopment plan pays homage to mega projects in the Gulf.
theconversation.com
September 12, 2025 at 1:13 PM
I got asked to write about the Gaza Riviera Plan + argue it should be understood within the settler colonial logic of elimination + made possible through urbicide and expulsion
theconversation.com/the-gaza-riv...
theconversation.com/the-gaza-riv...
Reposted by Tim White
"Before the policy, social housing made up 31% of overall housing tenure in England. Today it is 16%, causing council housing waiting lists and homelessness to surge."
📰 Read @davidjmadden.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on the enduring impact of Thatcher's Right to Buy policy.
📰 Read @davidjmadden.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on the enduring impact of Thatcher's Right to Buy policy.
Thatcher’s right to buy policy is celebrated but here’s the cost: losses to us all of £194bn and a fractured society | David Madden
A new report details the damage. This was an ideological ploy from which we have yet to recover, says LSE’s David Madden
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 7:57 AM
"Before the policy, social housing made up 31% of overall housing tenure in England. Today it is 16%, causing council housing waiting lists and homelessness to surge."
📰 Read @davidjmadden.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on the enduring impact of Thatcher's Right to Buy policy.
📰 Read @davidjmadden.bsky.social in @theguardian.com on the enduring impact of Thatcher's Right to Buy policy.
Reposted by Tim White
💰 How much public wealth do you think was given away for free via Right to Buy?
1bn? 10bn? 100bn?
Try 200 BILLION pounds.
🧵 Here's how Britain’s most infamous housing policy became its biggest housing disaster — and near the largest privatisation in British history.
1bn? 10bn? 100bn?
Try 200 BILLION pounds.
🧵 Here's how Britain’s most infamous housing policy became its biggest housing disaster — and near the largest privatisation in British history.
August 4, 2025 at 8:02 AM
💰 How much public wealth do you think was given away for free via Right to Buy?
1bn? 10bn? 100bn?
Try 200 BILLION pounds.
🧵 Here's how Britain’s most infamous housing policy became its biggest housing disaster — and near the largest privatisation in British history.
1bn? 10bn? 100bn?
Try 200 BILLION pounds.
🧵 Here's how Britain’s most infamous housing policy became its biggest housing disaster — and near the largest privatisation in British history.
Reposted by Tim White
How does digital capitalism affect wealth inequalities and class formation? This is a question I answer in this new paper, focusing on South Africa.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
SCORING HIGH, PAYING UP, GATING IN: Middle‐class Formation and Asset Inequalities under Digital Capitalism in South Africa
This article examines how modern class dynamics become intertwined with automated classifications and data-driven regimes of value creation under digital capitalism by demonstrating how housing marke....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 11, 2025 at 7:38 AM
How does digital capitalism affect wealth inequalities and class formation? This is a question I answer in this new paper, focusing on South Africa.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Tim White
last week, I was in an expert hearing on housing at European Parliament.
I told MEPs that I worry the Commission's European Affordable Housing Plan, in partnership w European Investment Bank, may morph into another derisking vehicle for institutional landlords.
I told MEPs that I worry the Commission's European Affordable Housing Plan, in partnership w European Investment Bank, may morph into another derisking vehicle for institutional landlords.
I have an article in the Guardian today on how finance capitalism is wreaking havoc on housing across Europe www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It's a political timebomb | Tim White
We’ve been living in a great experiment: can finance provide basic human rights such as housing? The answer is increasingly no, says researcher and writer Tim White
www.theguardian.com
July 10, 2025 at 7:56 AM
last week, I was in an expert hearing on housing at European Parliament.
I told MEPs that I worry the Commission's European Affordable Housing Plan, in partnership w European Investment Bank, may morph into another derisking vehicle for institutional landlords.
I told MEPs that I worry the Commission's European Affordable Housing Plan, in partnership w European Investment Bank, may morph into another derisking vehicle for institutional landlords.
Reposted by Tim White
Foster care in England is now a business model.
Private equity firms are cashing in on vulnerable kids while carers earn less than £1ph.
This is what happens when you turn public care into a market.
📊 @sachahilhorst.bsky.social & @sophieflinders.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Private equity firms are cashing in on vulnerable kids while carers earn less than £1ph.
This is what happens when you turn public care into a market.
📊 @sachahilhorst.bsky.social & @sophieflinders.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Nearly a quarter of foster places in England provided by private equity-backed firms
Experts raise alarm over ‘commodification’ of vulnerable children as independent fostering agencies make millions in profit
www.theguardian.com
July 8, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Foster care in England is now a business model.
Private equity firms are cashing in on vulnerable kids while carers earn less than £1ph.
This is what happens when you turn public care into a market.
📊 @sachahilhorst.bsky.social & @sophieflinders.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Private equity firms are cashing in on vulnerable kids while carers earn less than £1ph.
This is what happens when you turn public care into a market.
📊 @sachahilhorst.bsky.social & @sophieflinders.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
I have an article in the Guardian today on how finance capitalism is wreaking havoc on housing across Europe www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It's a political timebomb | Tim White
We’ve been living in a great experiment: can finance provide basic human rights such as housing? The answer is increasingly no, says researcher and writer Tim White
www.theguardian.com
July 7, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I have an article in the Guardian today on how finance capitalism is wreaking havoc on housing across Europe www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tim White
"In Ireland, nearly half of all units delivered since 2017 were purchased by investment funds. Across Sweden, the share of private rental apartments with institutional investors as landlords has swelled to 24%. In Berlin, €40bn of housing assets are now in institutional portfolios, 10% of the total"
July 7, 2025 at 7:46 AM
"In Ireland, nearly half of all units delivered since 2017 were purchased by investment funds. Across Sweden, the share of private rental apartments with institutional investors as landlords has swelled to 24%. In Berlin, €40bn of housing assets are now in institutional portfolios, 10% of the total"
Reposted by Tim White
There's no place for institutional finance in rental markets. It's a predatory extraction machine that robs the poor and middle.
But one thing I'd add: we should stop calling these people "investors". They don't "invest". They buy up and milk existing assets. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
But one thing I'd add: we should stop calling these people "investors". They don't "invest". They buy up and milk existing assets. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Across Europe, the financial sector has pushed up house prices. It's a political timebomb | Tim White
We’ve been living in a great experiment: can finance provide basic human rights such as housing? The answer is increasingly no, says researcher and writer Tim White
www.theguardian.com
July 7, 2025 at 6:59 AM
There's no place for institutional finance in rental markets. It's a predatory extraction machine that robs the poor and middle.
But one thing I'd add: we should stop calling these people "investors". They don't "invest". They buy up and milk existing assets. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
But one thing I'd add: we should stop calling these people "investors". They don't "invest". They buy up and milk existing assets. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tim White
Proofs checked, let me take you inside a national scandal…
Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State
…out World Homelessness Day (10 October 2025)
PRE-ORDER here www.hive.co.uk/Product/Kath...
@agendapub.bsky.social
Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State
…out World Homelessness Day (10 October 2025)
PRE-ORDER here www.hive.co.uk/Product/Kath...
@agendapub.bsky.social
July 3, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Proofs checked, let me take you inside a national scandal…
Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State
…out World Homelessness Day (10 October 2025)
PRE-ORDER here www.hive.co.uk/Product/Kath...
@agendapub.bsky.social
Debt Trap Nation: Family Homelessness in a Failing State
…out World Homelessness Day (10 October 2025)
PRE-ORDER here www.hive.co.uk/Product/Kath...
@agendapub.bsky.social
Reposted by Tim White
Reposted by Tim White
My new article in @city-journal.bsky.social argues for a critical understanding of the meritocratic ideal among urban researchers. In particular, it explores the consequences of how this ideal is reproduced in stigmatised neighbourhoods:
doi.org/10.1080/1360.... @lsemethodology.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1360.... @lsemethodology.bsky.social
Meritocracy from below: dreams, divisions, and the struggle for merit in a stigmatised neighbourhood
The ideal of a meritocratic society continues to exert significant normative power in political and public discourse, including in discussions about marginalised spaces and neighbourhoods. However,...
doi.org
June 18, 2025 at 7:58 AM
My new article in @city-journal.bsky.social argues for a critical understanding of the meritocratic ideal among urban researchers. In particular, it explores the consequences of how this ideal is reproduced in stigmatised neighbourhoods:
doi.org/10.1080/1360.... @lsemethodology.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1080/1360.... @lsemethodology.bsky.social
Reposted by Tim White
I received these comics by @miroborn.bsky.social on growing up in a stigmatized neighbourhood and subsequent social mobility in the mail today. Great example of knowledge dissemination!
Online here: www.anthonymiroborn.com/comic
Online here: www.anthonymiroborn.com/comic
May 2, 2025 at 11:00 AM
I received these comics by @miroborn.bsky.social on growing up in a stigmatized neighbourhood and subsequent social mobility in the mail today. Great example of knowledge dissemination!
Online here: www.anthonymiroborn.com/comic
Online here: www.anthonymiroborn.com/comic
Reposted by Tim White
remember how Berlin citizens voted to take back the city from corporate landlords in 2021? it was an emancipatory promise many applauded.
since then, corporate landlords increased their stronghold on the city to 25% of housing stok, and w it, rents went up by 9% annually.
since then, corporate landlords increased their stronghold on the city to 25% of housing stok, and w it, rents went up by 9% annually.
April 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM
remember how Berlin citizens voted to take back the city from corporate landlords in 2021? it was an emancipatory promise many applauded.
since then, corporate landlords increased their stronghold on the city to 25% of housing stok, and w it, rents went up by 9% annually.
since then, corporate landlords increased their stronghold on the city to 25% of housing stok, and w it, rents went up by 9% annually.
Reposted by Tim White
Part II PRS financialization on the wholesale privatization of social housing in Germany & Sweden. Truly amazing what happened in those countries @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @jiegson.bsky.social @miguel-martinez.bsky.social @javigil.bsky.social
theweekinhousing.substack.com/p/prs-financ...
theweekinhousing.substack.com/p/prs-financ...
PRS Financialization II: privatization of public housing
The Week in Housing 04/04/2025
theweekinhousing.substack.com
April 4, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Part II PRS financialization on the wholesale privatization of social housing in Germany & Sweden. Truly amazing what happened in those countries @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @jiegson.bsky.social @miguel-martinez.bsky.social @javigil.bsky.social
theweekinhousing.substack.com/p/prs-financ...
theweekinhousing.substack.com/p/prs-financ...
Reposted by Tim White
This government is now reverse-engineering cuts to the benefits system to meet their self-imposed fiscal rules.
As our deputy chief executive Hannah Peaker said when asked by the Times "it is simply no way to run an economy".
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
As our deputy chief executive Hannah Peaker said when asked by the Times "it is simply no way to run an economy".
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Rachel Reeves to announce further benefit cuts
Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, was forced to seek further cuts after the Office for Budget Responsibility rejected her welfare savings estimate
www.thetimes.com
March 26, 2025 at 9:14 AM
This government is now reverse-engineering cuts to the benefits system to meet their self-imposed fiscal rules.
As our deputy chief executive Hannah Peaker said when asked by the Times "it is simply no way to run an economy".
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
As our deputy chief executive Hannah Peaker said when asked by the Times "it is simply no way to run an economy".
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Reposted by Tim White
I wrote a short piece about the fallacy of 'affordable' housing when rents have risen immensely, focusing on the impact of this on millions of families (and why the governments' current plans won't fix it) 👇
Read the full piece here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Something vital is missing from Labour’s housing policy: council houses | Abi O'Connor
The government’s new planning bill looks likely to serve the interests of landlords rather than hard-up renters, says urban sociologist Abi O’Connor
www.theguardian.com
March 25, 2025 at 1:12 PM
I wrote a short piece about the fallacy of 'affordable' housing when rents have risen immensely, focusing on the impact of this on millions of families (and why the governments' current plans won't fix it) 👇