Years back, most public services in the UK provided this exact thing. Junior nurses, service personnel, police constables and the like all lived in what was eff

Years back, most public services in the UK provided this exact thing. Junior nurses, service personnel, police constables and the like all lived in what was effectively a small dormitory, akin to university halls but much cheaper. It worked well and allowed them to save money to buy their own properties, while being relatively cost effective. It also made becoming a public worker a reasonably desirable profession; providing them essentially free housing, a decent pension, and a good sense of community that comes from living with colleagues and friends. As funding was cut to public services over the years, the housing was sold off to private buyers and replaced with grant schemes. Unfortunately the grants have not increased at the rate of rent and housing, leaving many junior public workers worse off. It is in my opinion potentially contributing to a public worker shortage at the very least [1]. The armed forces kept much of their housing due to their bigger budget, but less group housing has meant worse economies of scale, and many of these buildings have become horribly dilapidated, lacking basic amenities [2]. [1] https://fullfact.org/health/are-we-short-40000-nurses/ https://fullfact.org/health/are-we-short-40000-nurses/ [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43135967 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43135967