Now inner city housing would be renovated with syndication proceeds from large C corporations rather than a collection of dentists.

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Mr Kilpatrick has also helped boost the inner-city housing market.

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Why, ask the suburbanites, should they pay for the facilities they have chosen to avoid: inner-city schools and public housing?

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Labour MP Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the cross-party public accounts committee, said there was the potential for "sudden and unmanageable population movements" between inner and outer London and potential housing shortfalls were "deeply worrying".

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He works for London Transport and she is a nurse in the NHS - typical of the professional black families who've arrived from inner London to take advantage of available housing as the borough's white residents leave.

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The result is scattered, low-density development that keeps affordable housing out, increases the cost of infrastructure, separates inner-city residents from new jobs in the suburbs, and makes public transport less efficient.

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Despite the housing-market crash, immigrants and ethnic minorities continue to leave inner-city ghettos for more mixed suburbs.

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Many of those who fought their way into public housing, on the other hand, have become stuck in the inner city.

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Left to itself, the housing market should ensure that at least some of those who are now marooned in inner cities should be able to move to the suburbs, where land is cheaper.

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The inner London borough's "unique challenges" will be considered by an expert panel which includes two former housing ministers.

BBC: NEWS | UK | England | London | Experts to debate housing crisis