Triumph or disaster?

Exaggerated claims about the social impact of government actions are commonplace – and housing policy is not free from such boasts. But only twice in the past century has a shift in policy had the effect of reshaping the social landscape.

The first was the decision in the 1920s to meet the demand for housing by subsidising councils to build homes. This led to the creation of six million new homes, which by 1980 totalled almost a third of the housing stock. The second truly transformative housing policy was the systematic dismantling of council provision by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1980 through the right to buy.

The first policy was a failure – most people did not want to be council tenants and since 1980 successive governments have spent billions trying to make the tenure work. But the right to buy was hugely successful.