Report: The Future of Housing and Home: Scenarios for 2030

By: The Futures Company
Published: April 2016

The Future of Housing and Home: Scenarios for 2030

Thanks to the generous support of Nationwide, Shelter commissioned the strategic futures consultancy The Futures Company to develop this report, which provides a fascinating and provocative look at different drivers of change and how these could manifest themselves in the way we live in fifteen to twenty years' time.

The report uses scenarios to describe a range of possible futures for housing and home in England over the next 15-20 years. This type of futures work is not about prediction, and these scenarios are not forecasts. Instead, they outline a range of possible futures - what could happen if there are changes in social values and attitudes, in economic behaviour, or in technology.  The value of this process is to stimulate the way we think and act today.

The report lays out four scenarios detailing possible futures for housing and the home. Each involves different institutional and political decisions, and different values about the purpose of the home. Each scenario is brought to life through a story from the future that sets it in the context of everyday lives. These stories help us to imagine how these potential futures could look and feel, and assist us in thinking about different challenges and opportunities.