This paper, commissioned by the Government Office for Science as part of the Foresight "Future of Cities" project, reviews and re-frames the history of UK housing over recent decades and offers an account of the current situation from the perspective of a range of cities. It presents possible future scenarios and revisits the earlier examples to see how these cities could be changed by 2060 in various hypothetical social transformations. Without major transformations, the report predicts worsening housing problems, growing inequality and damage to economic competitiveness.