I do have the bones of an idea. The fourth way. Currently you a)buy, or b) rent privately. In both cases you have little flexibility and possibly get trapped in the wrong place or without means to pay.
Or c) you join the elite aristocracy of renters, by getting an artificially low rented council place with security of tenure for the rest of your days, no matter that you got it to house your large family, now all left, and/or at a time you were a low earner with no savings, but you are now rolling in money.
(The day housing benefit was invented should have been the last day council house tenancies existed, because that addresses the exact need for a certain size of home, and the exact reasonable rent in the area, and pays that only until circumstances of need or of income change. But housing benefit should be directed to the landlord, not given to tenants as an incentive for feckless behaviour)
I don't know enough about it, but apparently other countries do things differently and better. I think (only think) Singapore has some crossover system, with most property being State owned but only as it were as the ground landlord, so they are not interfering in the size and location of what people rent, and if or when they can move around. An advantage of a State ground landlord/ ultimate manager, would be they could mark the card of antisocial/problem occupants, who would have to go to the 'naughty' or the 'help' flats probably with security supervisors or welfare systems in place.
I think the current U.K. system, with 8 weeks' no-fault eviction, is understandable for some private landlords who might suddenly need to sell, and is also vital for them to get rid of tenants who are antisocial or otherwise problematic, without needing to give reasons or go to court. But there needs to be a system where some tenants with a proven 'perfect tenant' history can get access to some indefinite/lifelong rentals by institutions (pension funds etc.). Particularly for older people, but also for people with close family close by, or with children, especially SEN, settled in schools, the assurance that provided they don't blot their perfect tenant record, they won't need to uproot at short notice may be important.
(One possibility for certain private landlords who don't want to recover the homes for personal use, might be to donate them to the State/institutional investment landlord's pool of housing, in return for a guaranteed income and relief from risk, plus a promise to buy it from them at adjusted market rate if the capital is needed) 'Adjusted' would be a necessary compromise between the potential legal costs and difficulty of evicting and recovering vacant possession if contested, and the, usually, greater value of a vacant than a tenanted home.