The tragedies of Twin Parks and Grenfell are reminders that housing has become a matter of life or death for millions.

On January 9th, 17 people lost their lives in a fire at the Twin Parks apartment block in the Bronx in New York City. Glyn Robbins draws parallels between this tragedy and the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London. He writes that policies of private sector provision of affordable housing on both sides of the Atlantic have failed – and only renewed government investment, with democratic control, can create good quality, safe homes for those in need.