Social Housing History

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From Lloyd George’s introduction of “homes fit for heroes” in the early 20th century to Thatcher’s neo-liberalist dream of property ownership for all, housing has been a central issue in British politics for over a century (Brian Wheeler, 2015). Social housing has always been a polarising issue, not simply on a Governmental stage but also within winder society with labour voters traditionally residing in social housing and conservative voters owning in their own homes. Social housing was once described as ‘one of the greatest revolutions this country has seen’ but despite this the revolution has been under ‘attack’ over the last decade or so.
The relationship between housing and the welfare state has been contested for nearly half a century. …show more content…
The first housing Act, ‘The Housing of the Working Classes Act’, was introduced in 1890 with the intention of encouraging local authorities to improve housing within the United Kingdom. Three years after this, in 1993, London County Council built the UK’s first council estate in Shoreditch East London; paving the way to decent living conditions for all (Holly Bentley, 2008). In 1908 Lloyd George became Chancellor of the Exchequer, granting him aa voice on a stage he needed to launch his ‘radical’ social reforms and “lift the shadow of the workhouse from the homes of the poor” (Ben Johnson, c2016). In 1919 the Government, spear headed by George’s “homes fit for heroes” initiative, introduced ‘The Housing and Town Planning Act’ which provided councils with subsidies to build houses in areas where there was high demand – during this time public housing grew from less than 1% to around 10% of the national total (Holly Bentley, 2008). Following this, came the ‘Utopia Phases’ and the introduction of high-rise social housing; the reasons behind the drive for inner city multi-storey accommodation can be seen best when one looks back at cities such as Liverpool in the early 20th Century (Ben Johnson, …show more content…
The practical reasons behind the need for inner city tenement building where explained by Sir Leslie Scott, the Conservative MP for Liverpool in a speech he gave in the house of commons in 1925;
“The position in many of our great cities, particularly in Liverpool, and particularly in my own division of Liverpool, is that it is vitally necessary that the workers should live in the centre of the city near their work. The dock labourers of Liverpool have to go every morning to the stand on the dockside for employment…They are employed, as we all know, by the half-day, and, if they are unemployed, they have to turn up again at the stand at mid-day.”
Scott went on to explain how long tram journeys the docks from the suburban council estates such as Norris Green where impractical and leading to negative effects on the local economy (Matthew Whitfield, 2010.) Scott’s speech helped to add fuel to the fire and increase social housing provisions throughout the
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