Reform & Revolution - The top 10 events that shaped social housing » Housing » 24dash.com

Over the coming months 24housing and 24dash will unravel – through personal testimony – the top 10 events that have shaped social housing in the last 60 years.

In the first of our exclusive new series, Ross Macmillan reveals the key moments selected by our panel of expert judges… 

To pick ten events would be difficult enough. To then arrange them into order of significance, I was told by one academic, would be “nonsense”. But every trend in time has a turning point – a moment that altered the course or completely reversed the line of progression, so I galvanized a panel of nine distinguished housing professionals who have been at the sharp end of such reforms, to do the job for me.

It seems fitting to draw a line under the last 60 years. We’ve come a long way since Aneurin Bevan laid out his “quality rented houses for all” vision in the 1949 Housing Act. So it’s even more fitting that the panel has nominated the 1949 Act as the most significant event within the last six decades, above the 1988 Housing Act and the introduction of Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy in 1980.

10 The Decent Homes programme, 2001
Repairs and maintenance were shunted up the priority ladder to bring the huge backlog of substandard council housing up to a decent living standard. An ambitious target – all social housing to meet a decent standard by 2010 – was set, and will be duly missed. Criticisms aside, by the end of next year 3.5million homes will have been brought up to the decent homes standard. “It won’t have been wholly successful because not every home will have been improved,” says former housing minister Nick Raynsford, who initiated the programme. “But I still think it’s been one of the biggest success stories of the present government.”

9 Slum clearance, 1950s and 1960s
Eager to achieve the magical goal of more than 300,000 new homes a year, the newly appointed Tory housing minister, Harold Macmillan, restarted slum clearance in 1956 after it was put on hold after the war. Only by wiping out the narrow Victorian terraced streets of Britain, could Macmillan build the denser estates of 500 – 1,000 units he wanted. But more houses in less space tilted housing 90 degrees upwards, creating unfit and unfriendly tower blocks. Despite likening housing starts to cricket runs, actual output fell slightly short of Macmillan’s aspiration and only around 250,000 homes a year were built.

8 Ronan Point, 1968
Very few were sad to see the post-war high-rise building boom fall from favour after the Ronan Point disaster claimed the lives of four people in 1968. An entire corner of the tower block came crashing down like a pack of cards following a gas explosion. The inquiry concluded that the building – which was system built using pre-fabricated concrete panels bolted together like a giant meccano set –contained a series of design flaws. Between 1945 and 1990 a total of 6,544 tower blocks were built in the UK, with councils receiving state subsidy for every layer over five storeys from 1958. “In retrospect,” says chairman of PRP architects, Andy von Bradsky, “Ronan Point had a profound influence on forthcoming health and safety legislation which distinguishes the UK from many other countries.”

7 Housing (Homeless Persons Act), 1977
Overwhelmed by the growth of the post-war population and by housing shortages created by slum clearance, local authorities became obliged to accommodate the ‘unintentionally’ homeless under the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. Despite accommodation being sought for 12,000 households in the first three months of 1978 compared to 8,000 a year earlier, the Act caused great difficulty for local authorities when managing their housing lists. Those that had waited on council lists for many years found their places given to those who qualified as priority need under the Act. It was also unable to support most single homeless people, as they fell out of the criteria of ‘priority need’ which in the main meant families with children or pregnant women. Despite this, it still forms the basis of current homelessness legislation.

6 Rent Acts, 1957 – 1977
Laws that relaxed rent controls were passed by the Tories in 1957 with the aim of resolving the housing shortage. But by removing the restrictions on the rents of privately let accommodation under the terms of the Rent Act, it encouraged unscrupulous landlords, such as London property racketeer, Peter Rachman, to harass sitting tenants out in order to re-let on higher rents. The Rent Act 1965 re-asserted control and regulation, while the 1968 and 1977 Acts were essential so as to consolidate the law.

5 Cathy Come Home/launch of Shelter, 1966
Until a young blonde woman by the name of Cathy appeared on TV screens on 11 November 1966, homelessness was for the homeless. After the BBC’s Cathy Come Home broadcast, homelessness became everyone’s problem. Shocking images of life in squalid slums brought home just how desperate the housing situation had become. That, and the coincidental launch of the homelessness charity, Shelter a few days later, were key campaigns in forcing Labour to pass the 1977 Housing (Homeless persons Act). “It was an example of the fantastic power of the media to bring such issues to the attention of the public,” says Geeta Nanda, chief executive of Thames Valley Housing Association.

4 Beginning of the financial crisis, 2007
The unprecedented growth and benign credit terms enjoyed by Housing Associations over the last two decades was halted in earth shattering fashion by the 2007 credit crunch – arguably having the single biggest impact on housing supply in the last 60 years. “For the first time RSLs had to look at a future with possibly less public subsidy, but with the demand for housing increasing,” says L&Q financial director Waqar Ahmed. “The credit crunch, in effect, signaled the end of the way housing has been provided for the past two decades.”

3 Right to Buy, 1980
It’s been charged with just about every housing injustice since its inception, but ‘Love it or loathe it,” says Peter Marsh, “this was the policy that ended the equity divide for millions.” On the one hand, “It diversified mono-tenure estates, brought home ownership within the reach of millions of people and generated receipts for reinvestment,” says former Conservative housing minister Sir George Young. But Margaret Thatcher’s decision to turn her back on council housing left a gaping hole in the country’s council housing stock, contributing to the four million people currently waiting for a council or housing association house today. In 1979, 42% of the British population lived in council housing – today the figure is around 12%. Between 1980 and 1996 alone, 2.2million homes were bought by tenants who became owner-occupiers.

2 1988 Housing Act
On review, the provisions within the 1988 Housing Act combined to create arguably the single biggest change of direction in housing policy in recent times. Allowing Housing Associations to borrow from the private sector and determine their own rents – making up for the reduction in public subsidy – was effectively the Tories washing their hands of HAs. For the first time HAs faced real risks and could go bust. It also introduced assured short-hold tenancy – reviving the private rented sector – and removed the rent control on new lettings for housing associations. “It encouraged landlords to let out their properties as it provided a lesser degree of security of tenure and less control of rents,” says 3 Paper Buildings barrister Jamal Demachkie.

1 1949 Housing Act
Not only did the 1949 Housing Act remove all references to the working classes – allowing authorities for the first time to build rented housing for the whole community – it defined the shape of the urban landscape to this day.

The post-war council estates between 1945 and 1951 under Labour were planned as high-quality rented housing for all sections of the community. Between 1949 and 1951, an average of 196,300 houses were built per year. In all, about 1million houses were built by Labour between 1945 and 1951.

But the most substantial investment in public housing ever seen wasn’t without its critics. The quality and design of which left a lasting legacy, that, despite many successes, leaves many towns and cities scarred with consequent social and economic problems as well as physical problems, says architect Andy von Bradsky. “The failure was a combination of poor design principles, coupled with a failure to invest in management and maintenance,” he says. 

Have your say –  have the judges got it right? What do YOU think is the most significant moment in housing history.

The panel

• Nick Raynsford, former housing minister (Labour)
• Sir George Young, former housing minister (Conservative)
• Peter Marsh, chief executive, Tenant Services Authority
• Peter Shapely, lecturer in modern and contemporary history, University of Wales, Bangor
• Andy von Bradsky, chairman, PRP Architects
• Geeta Nanda, chief executive, Thames Valley Housing Association
• Waqar Ahmed, financial director, L&Q
• Professor Christine Whitehead, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Jamal Demachkie, barrister, 3 Paper Buildings

Next month

Former housing minister Nick Raynsford kicks off the series, and talks candidly about the regrets and reforms of the Decent Homes programme.
“For me it is the human impact. Literally the millions of households who now live in homes they feel proud of.”