Introduction

Sixty years on from the end of the Second World War and the establishment of the post-war welfare state, more than 25 years on from the election of Margaret Thatcher's government and changes that reduced the size and role of public sector housing, and almost 10 years on from the election of a new Labour government, housing policy in Britain has home ownership at its heart. At the same time asset ownership is a more central element in the government's whole approach to public policy. Policy actions taken in 2006 confirm this direction and the importance of housing in the new asset-based welfare state.

Contrasting origins

Housing has been represented as the wobbly pillar under the post-war welfare state in Britain (see, for example, Malpass, 2003, 2005). During and after the Second World War the legislation and reorganisations that transformed the political and social rights of citizens and established the modern welfare state had less overt impact on housing policy than almost any other area. Although squalor was identified in the Beveridge report (Beveridge, 1942) as one of the main targets for the new welfare settlement, and although housing and housing costs were inextricably linked to problems of ill health and poverty, there was no dramatic reorganisation of the way that housing was provided or managed. There was no nationalisation of the housing service comparable with changes in health service provision and the state did not emerge as a monopoly or near monopoly provider of services comparable with health or education. While the changes were not so dramatic and local authorities continued to be the lead agencies for the government's direct provision of housing, the role of government in housing provision was, however, considerably increased. New towns and a new land use planning system combined with more generous subsidies for local authority housing meant that the state built new high quality housing that was superior to most of what was available in the private sector. At the same time rent control brought the bulk of the market within a managed system. Although it had not been so obviously reorganised, the private as well as the public sector operated in a very different way than in the past.