<p><span>Housing policy needs a medium-term framework with housing elevated to the “next great office of state” to ease the housing crisis, according to the London School of Economics’ latest report on housing policy for the Family Building Society.</span></p> <p><span>Speaking at the launch of LSE’s publication – <i>Achieving a more coherent and consistent approach to housing policy –</i> Mark Bogard, ceo of the Family Building Society, said there had been a “complete failure of leadership of all people involved in housing” but people still needed “somewhere to go to bed and wake up in the morning”. </span></p> <p><span>With housing’s fundamental role in life, “we need to elevate thinking, elevate leadership”, Bogard stated. “The housing minister should be one of the great officers of state.” </span></p> <p><span>Also speaking at the launch of the report, the second in a series of three on resolving housing policy issues following an <a href="http://www.house-builder.co.uk/news/lse-calls-coherent-housing-strategy-fix-crisis">introductory publication in February</a>, co-author Christine Whitehead, LSE’s emeritus professor of housing economics, commented that housing reviews since the 1970s had “all called for a longer commitment to housing policy, but their direct impact has been pretty close to zero”. </span></p> <p><span>At the same time, she noted that those behind some of the …