Housing Policy in the Thatcher Years

Abstract

The years 1945–1970 saw considerable progress in tackling the housing problems of England and Wales, with major programmes of council house building, slum clearance and improvement being undertaken by both Labour and Conservative governments. This progress was documented in the Labour government’s 1977 Green Paper — Housing Policy: A Consultative Document — which argued that the acceleration of an existing trend in housing provision, dating from the mid- to late 1960s, away from council building towards the improvement of older dwellings would secure a better balance between the needs of different sections of the community and so be more cost-effective.