A tale of two cities: understanding the perceptions and barriers to tackling the UK Housing Crisis in Lincoln and Doncaster

<p dir="ltr">For the best part of two decades the UK has been plagued by a Housing Crisis with an annual shortage of new housing construction of 345,000 homes and an unprecedented level of house price increase. Over this period there have been attempts by central government to mitigate, and/or ease the severity of this Housing Crisis, however many of these resolutions have fallen short of effectively resolving the problem. A reason behind these failings can be argued as the direct involvement of communities in the planning and allocation process of new housing construction. NIMBYism has been allowed to hinder and delay the essential delivery of not only new housing but also critical infrastructure projects. This thesis aims to identify the differences in the attitudes associated with NIMBYism and whether certain cohorts of society, based on their demographic or socioeconomic status influences underlying NIMBY tendencies. Included in this, this thesis intends to identify perceived differences in how the public define the housing crisis compared to the government’s objective definition, and whether these differences influence how the public views government responses. </p><p dir="ltr">For this thesis two sample cities, selected for their similar population sizes and comparable housing construction projects, yet differing population structures, were examined on how these differences influence attitudes towards new housings projects. To achieve this, a social survey was utilised to assess how residents in both cities perceive new housing developments and what they understand about the UK Housing Crisis at present. Following this, rigorous thematic analysis of qualitative responses and multinomial regression analysis of quantitative data was undertaken. The findings demonstrated that factors such as age, income/wealth, and political affiliation each played varying roles in shaping NIMBY tendencies across the two cities. Consequently, this research provides policymakers with valuable insights into the interconnected causes of NIMBYism, offering a framework for addressing these barriers when considering future housing developments.</p>