The Changing Emphasis of Housing Policy, 1945–79

Abstract

By 1939, Britain had a framework of housing policy in a recognisably modern form, and state intervention of various kinds was beginning to look permanent, if not enthusiastic. Housing conditions were on the whole substantially better than they had been at the end of the First World War; the stock of dwellings, for instance, had increased by more than 40 per cent, largely as a result of new building for home ownership and municipal renting, the emergent tenure forms of the twentieth century. The building boom of the 1930s meant that by the outbreak of war there was a crude numerical balance between households and dwellings. However, over the next six years, there was a marked worsening in the situation. Mobilisation for the war effort meant an immediate halt to slum clearance, and after completion of schemes already under construction in September 1939 there was virtually no new building for the duration of the war (Merrett, 1979: 320). The existing stock suffered badly from the effects of bombing and neglect. Altogether, some 450000 dwellings were destroyed or made uninhabitable in the air raids, and a further 3 million were estimated to be damaged to a lesser extent. Labour and materials for housing repair and maintenance were in short supply and priority was given to work on war-damaged property. This shrinkage and deterioration of the stock took place alongside a growth of about 1 million in the population, and must be seen against the wider background of a burgeoning popular demand for social reform which gained strength from the summer of 1940 (Addison, 1977: 104) and culminated in Labour’s massive election victory in July 1945. Thus the war ended with the new Labour Government facing a serious housing problem, amongst all the other difficulties of social and economic reconstruction. It is from this point that this chapter takes up the development of housing policy. The account begins with an overview, followed by consideration of some key elements in the central-local relationship, as a way of focusing the analysis.