THE HISTORY SOCIAL HOUSING IN THE UK

[Music] housing problems particularly for Working Class People have been a problem since many years in the UK problems and attitudes towards social

housing have always been there they have just had many different twists and turns and many different reasons through the last century so this is the history of

the council house the building of many Council houses started to get underway after 1919 under David Lloyd George's government with the production of the

Addison act since then many houses and flats have been built Council Estates which consisted of many homes with local shops

and amenities started to flourish all around the UK but since the 1980s there has been a mass decline in availability and many people are asking

asking the question just what went so wrong with the council [Music] house and what was life like for many

workingclass people before the council house during the 19th century many cities began to expand this was due to the Industrial Revolution so many extra

workers were needed at this time travel was cumbersome and expensive not to mention unreliable so people began to flock to

the city where the work was mainly in London Glasgow Liverpool and Newcastle in this period any building of homes was down to the private

Enterprises they built long narrow streets with no forward planning erecting tiny houses and flats with bad lighting without hot water shared

kitchens and shared outside toilets they were mainly let as rooms in boarding houses for accommodating single men who share not only their rooms their

toilets and washing facilities but on a shift basis they also shared their beds the area was becoming cramped cities were becoming

overshadowed with bad sanitation and grubby streets and diseases were threatening into spread all working class and poor people

could not afford homes of their own as mortgages were scarce and expensive and they were only available to the rich in fear of illnesses spreading to

the wealthy areas upper class folk began to petition for the government to get involved in the building of new homes for the influx of these new people the

government at the time led by David Lloyd George began to listen and in 1919 the Addison Act was passed before the Addison act the most

important move was in 1890 with the homes for the workingclass people act this was to ensure that improvements

were made to existing homes and to clean up boarding houses and shared accommodation some voluntary organizations and Charities made homes

for the poorest families but most ly private landlords were still responsible for most of the rented properties in the large towns and cities however they

still demanded High rents for improved yet still very basic housing local councils did at this time

have the power to build houses but most did not get involved indeed some Estates did get built but they were only replaced in the slums so the new homes

were set to re house those who had been displaced by the previous demolitions two problems arose with

these new builds in most cases the slums were dense and housed far more people than the new buildings could rehouse the second problem was the poorest of folk

set to come back to the areas could not afford new rents and migrated to slums they could afford this meant even more overcrowding

in unmodernized parts of the cities and [Music] towns up until 1919 rents were set at the landlord's demand so they could

charge whatever they liked the councils who had started to let out properties received no subsidiaries from the government new homes were now being built to higher standards than before

with thicker walls and better lighting and in less dense areas this would demand a higher rent without any help from subsidization the poor loses out

again an example of better housing can be seen today in Milbank in Westminster in London this was built in 1902 and it was

to accommodate over 4,000 people a small success story the estate was built after the demolition of the infamous Milbank

prison the ch tud Walters report in 1912 a submission known as the tudah Walters report was submitted to the government Raymond anwin an

architectural engineer at the time suggested a new Garden City where people could be given dignity not only in their homes but around their homes he

envisaged a minimum size for rooms and a garden around the house for tenants to enjoy and to be proud the this would encourage tenants to take more care of their dwellings and in the area they

lived in his suggestion included two living rooms one main family room and the other for entertaining guests or to give some

quiet for someone in the household who may be ill or recovering a minimum of three bedrooms was recommended also remember families

were much bigger back then he also proposed a scholar and a ladder and a bathroom the most important part of his recommendations

where there should be ample light and air flow throughout the house this must have been a luxury for those people living in squala in those days housing inspectors were employed to

visit families to ensure their homes were being well looked after they looked at curtains Gardens and even the front door just to make sure that these homes

were being rest ected by dwellers the rent books came with the rule books people had to abide by these or face penalties or even

evictions this was still a time when social housing was given to those who were working and they were still out of reach for the working class poor and the very

poor I remember as a child my grandmother telling me that the carpets could not reach all the way around the walls there had to be an island Gap this was to allow any work being done for the

contractors to be able to walk all the way around the floorboards and not to get any dirt or any footprints on the carpets the Addison Act of 1919 and the

first world war I've mentioned this act a few times so here is what it is and what difference it made to social housing

named after the author Dr Christopher Addison the name of the Act was actually called the housing and town planning bill after the first world war there was a

massive need for housing so there was an ambitious plan to build half a million homes in three years however less than half were actually built due to budget

cuts and the poorer economy in the 1920s 213,000 homes were actually built so it wasn't a bad effort the Act made rented

accommodation and home building a national scheme this would involve all local authorities being directed by the government to provide housing mainly as

a reward for homecoming soldiers and their families higher working class people were able to afford the rents so it was still no fix for the

poor further AXS pushed the councils to provide homes as a social service in 1924 another act building more homes and

another act in 1930 obliged councils to get rid of all remaining slums and build

a further 700,000 homes so from 1919 to 1935 over 1.1 million new homes were built the councils got delivered another

act in 1937 to ensure that playgrounds sporting facilities and recreational gowns were provided within the reach of these new

Estates that was a busy time for the councils the largest estate ever built in this period was the beckon Tre estate in East London which still survives

today 27,000 homes were built mind you it did take 15 years interestingly the rents in 1920

were around2 a week today's money that works out at around £114 compare this to today's social

housing rents in the Midlands a three B house averages at £11 per week in the South a three-bedroom house would set

you back around 173 a week so there's not a lot of difference when you compare but it does show the cost of council

rents back in them days was really high compare this today private renting however a three-bedroom in the Midlands is around

£1,000 a month ready for this this in London private renting on a three-bedroom house is around £2,900 a month that would be a hell of a lot more

if you lived in places such as Kensington or Notting Hill it wasn't until after 1930 when homes were built in the outer city areas

that rents became more affordable to all classes of people Estates were built on the fringes where people had to travel longer to get to work

the art deco style houses were built on the fringes of London which inspired extensions to the London Underground Network and other travel an example

being trains through Oxbridge rainers Lane and Fosters on the picad didy line alone rules to housekeeping were even stricter a lettuce of cleanliness

was sent out to tenants the second world war had come to an end the War had put a stop on house building on account the materials were needed for the war effort plus the lack

of Manpower owing to workers being restricted to special services such as Munitions transport and essential farm work many more nurses and doctors were

enrolled for the casualties due to the bombing for the second time housing needs became a crisis at the end of the war because of many houses have been

destroyed or irreparably damaged especially in in the south after the Blitz the new labor government under a new labor government

led by Clement Atley it was reported that over 750,000 homes needed to be built a short-term solution was to build

prefabricated houses mainly Bungalows which could be factorymade and erected quickly these were estimated to last for 10 years but they lasted much longer

than that in fact fact some still stand today and some of them are actually still being lived in look at these ones in Birmingham constructions were basic and

had plenty of light and storage space they had indoor toilets and bathrooms the prefabs were builting factories where aircraft had previously

been constructed for the war effort also prisoners of war that still lived in the UK were employed to help construct them

over 150,000 of these prefabs were built in 1947 but there was still a major shortage still prefabricated more houses

were built using concrete blocks bolted to Metal Frames rather like the ones that they used to build high-rise Flats in the 1960s they were efficient to build and

required less skill they were estimated to last for around 60 years and yes there are still some of those around today they did alleviate the urgent need for housing and the number of families

living in social housing had increased from 10% in 1938 to over a quarter of the population in

1945 demand was getting higher interestingly around 177% of people who live in the UK are in social

housing but you split this between Council owned properties and housing associations that's probably less than 10% ENT of council tenants as of

2025 but the population figures in 1945 after the war were just below 30 million today's figure 69 million people now

live in the UK just as a little fact I discovered in 1066 there were 2.5 million people living in this country the second world war had come to

an end a radical change was needed a new Urban Vision was on the horizon the 1930 Act of getting rid of or slums had been

set aside due to the war these places have become more neglected with families living in one bedroom damped cold deric and back-to-back houses and some still

sharing outside toilets with other families there was a massive depletion of stock due to bomb damage so it was time with the influx of even more people

flocking to the cities and towns for something brand new major changes took place we had a new conservative government in 1951 with

Churchill back in the seat and it pledged to build a new vision giving housing building back to the private sector however damaged homes and slum

streets could be bought in B by the council this was by the means of a compulsory purchase order in the in cities this was taking place to demolish

old buildings and rebuild a New Britain this was met in many rundown areas with protests from the residents of the slum communities they wanted to

keep their way of life with their families and friends around them the vision they despised was the pioneering cities in the sky reform many folks held

sittings and mobbed the contractors who belied were not only pulling down their homes but they were pulling their lives apart but the protest came to no avail

the slums would be gone forever mostly particularly the younger people welcome the new embark on bright new homes kitted with communial play

facilities shops schools playgrounds libraries and with heating and hot water at the turn of a tap or just the switch of a control or the control of a switch

whichever way you want to put it this was a better life for them they declined it wasn't long before people

began to feel isolated in these new six-story blocks the community Spirit had started diminish particularly for those living alone or in the upper

floors the concrete jungles as then called were seen as hideous and there would soon be an easy target for Crime this was at the time a solution

for masses of people needing homes more highrise Flats began to be erected in the 1960s and quite densely packed together forming a concrete Community

however broken lifts Darkly lit Alleyways and the lack of community centers plus little to do for kids and teenagers soon led to the insurgence of

petty incidents of crime families soon could not wait to get out the problems became worse as the 1970s dawned with the lack of investment

and the realization of how poorly these blocks were built missing bolts poor window frames damp and the lack of modernization made a poor standard of

living it was not long before these areas became no go zones for many including postal delivery staff and taxi

services they became so hard to let that Council started to house problem people in the Flats thus escalating bad reports the tower blocks became dingy and badly

managed cracks clearly appeared in this great architectural idea more than 500,000 Flats were made available in London alone Britain's

Skyline had changed for a short time for the better but as the decades went by they were getting demolished and they left a bad memory for many of the former

residents let's rewind back to the 1940s the late 1940s the government could see building in cities alone was never going to be enough to house

everyone that needed a place to live it was time to build a new suburban community and brand new towns were

needed the New Towns act under the New Towns Act of 1946 there were three waves of New Towns built to deal with the overspill of the

cram cities they would have their own places of worship community centers libraries doctor's surgeries and shopping centers the councils didn't

want new residents to crowd the cities for their needs so it was important that full amenities were made available orbe these facilities did trail behind the

builds for a while but they did get built the first wave of independent New Towns was intended to help alleviate the housing shortages beyond the green belt

around London two sites in County Durham were also designated these designations were stevenage in Harford Shire in

1946 Crawley in Sussex in 1947 haml Hemstead in Harford Shire in 1947 harow in Essex New Town aiff in

County Durham aiff New Town Peter Lee in County Durham easington New Town Welling Garden City and Hatfield in Harford Shire both in

1948 basilon in Essex brachnell in barkshire Corby in Northampton share in 1949 these were roomy light modern

houses and would cater for middle class working people to feel at home and very comfortable the second wave 1962 to

1964 would be to alleviate the cities in the Midlands including d new town now called t and the Northwest the third wave up to 1970

would include Milton keing and peterborg just to name a few for the majority of TOS it was still a success story they were built for the

population at the time with plenty of green land and Walkin spaces such as parks and meeting areas however the late 20th century saw the need for further

building in these areas giving up this land and open space it has to be said though for many people even though they're not New Towns anymore that they

are still a very desirable place to live it's now the 1970s and Council houses were getting older and in more need for repair some Estates became rund

down after the government had cut funds for renovation and modernization there had been a change in the monitoring of residence with the rule book almost being thrown out of the

window and home visit inspections had practically ceased the labor government at the time under James Cagan in the mid 1970s had discussed the selling of

housing stock in order to save money on repairs and with the view that if people own their own homes they would take more pride in their communities and maybe try

to improve them this decision however never came to fruition well not yet anyway 197 9 the conservative government under Margaret Thatcher's new

government that took the chair in 1979 it was announced in the following year there was to be a new act the right to buy this meant that in certain

circumstances the council tenants could buy their own Council home under the new law margle hestin MP had the idea that this would be less of a burden on the

state as as the new owners would be responsible for their own repairs modernization and insurance tenants depending on how long

they lived in their rented house or flat could get a reduction on the sale price of up to 50% or even 70% if they lived in

Flats nearly 1 million people took up the opportunity in the first 10 years resulting in a great reduction of housing stock for the council some people actually got their homes for

under £10,000 and then sold them later on for 10 times their price this came with many problems for councils some people have

bought their own homes realized it had structural problems these were the concrete constructions with the metal rods that we talked about earlier they rusted over the years making the places

hard to get a mortgage and impossible to sell this is known as concrete cancer there have been 150,000 of these homes and a file of complaint by

residents or the new owners was made in 1984 this petition was upheld and councilors were forced to foot the bill for the repair or even to rebuild their

houses from scratch the other problems were that the wealthier people bought their homes in the nicer areas thus leing problem areas

in the same position before and hardly any other the flats were sold to tenants this did not play out the government's dream of relieving councils of the areas

that would rather do without for the first time in a number of years the building of council houses outweighed the need and building became less and

less this with the sale of many Council houses made a massive depletion of council stock Council house availability had

declined the problem was that with many homes never built to replace though sold as Council budgets were slashed time and time again governments have made massive

pledges to build what they call Affordable housing but have failed targets and have always encouraged a homeowner Britain as opposed to European countries who still have a larger rented

population than homeowners targets have been missed due to planning permissions being turned down councils on low budgets and greedy land owners asking too much for their

land so what about the future the new Karma government is promising millions of homes and wavering some of the red tape there are according to the charity

shelter as of 2025 272,000 homeless recorded people in the UK this is a current housing crisis

homelessness includes people on the streets or in emergency accommodations such as bed and breakfasts and sofa surfing one of the main reasons for the

problem is private tency contracts ending and no fault evictions it is shown that statistically over

350,000 people contacted their local Authority in 20124 looking for support due to the threat of losing their home

Labor's big promise to build 1.5 million homes during their first term just how realistic is this there is also an announcement that the right to buy

scheme for Council residents will change with the chancellor Rachel Reeves slashing the discount for new applicants making Council house buying less

attractive the current housing secretary Angela Raina wants to be judged on her plan to ensure that Council houses are built to ensure that that all people can

be housed and not just cater for private landlords and homeowners it's obvious that the more houses that become available the lower the costs would be

for buying and renting but do landlords land owners and sellers really want this Angela Raina by the way bought her own

Council house and sold it 10 years later making a 48,000 profit think about that what you want laborers also made changes to the right

to buy for councils to make it easier for them to buy social housing to rent out using money from their sales they will use that budget to purchase and

build labor pledges to make a massive increase in the availability of social housing in the biggest as they say in a

generation labor stated the process will be sped up by cutting down the red tape making planning permission easier and using part of the green belt for

building they call it the gray belt people are already complaining about this one of the main problems in the past is that protests have Arisen when they have not wanted new builds in their

areas spoiling their back Ard and Views labor pledges to change legislation to eradicate this the problems are that many houses are built by large building

companies they cannot be dictated by the government of how many houses they should build large Enterprises tend to build more when the interest is low to ensure

a quick turn up of new homes uh to ensure a quick take up of these new homes but when interest is high such as now they slow down the

building remember they are doing this as a business and to maximize profits remember Barrett homes yes they are still around and they are are the UK's

largest home builder it's hard to believe that many sections of land have already had planning permission to build however it's a large policy for larger

building companies to land bank and have been accused of holding back on building in order to maximize profits by waiting for the right prices to come along in

order to earn more money housing stock is mainly profited by dealing in secondhand homes they set the Price

Market by building a vast amount of new homes would knock down the prices which had upsell us estate agents not to mention private landlords who would revisit their rent

pricing another problem foreseen by experts reveals that if the promise to build many new homes is carried out in a few years this would make materials for

building become more scarce and manufacturers could take advantage of the demand and increase their prices private development is promised

to increase with the rule of ensuring the amount of properties would be more affordable so-called affordable housing is however 80% of the current selling

Market or the rental markets in large towns and cities where the prices are astronomical this is surely out of the reach of most people this mainly gives

the investor the chance to snap up as many properties as they can at a lower price to rent them out at whatever price they demand so the pledge of New Home

Building is met with doubt by many experts and forecasters the current government of course replied with their repeated comment this was the mess left by the

previous administration over the previous years we've haer that one before well let's not deviate and look at the reality of this Mass Home Building

promise first of all have we been groomed to the believe that we have to own our own home has the government allowed private renting prices to spiral out of

affordability but one thing is for sure we have an aging population in this country and it's ever growing this will mean more and more people will need a place to

live finally dare I mention migration this is something that is a major Arguments for politicians particularly Nigel

farage these stated in the last 20 years that the population in the UK had increased by 10 million people which depletes the availability of housing

this has been debated in a petition for a general election which was signed over 3 million people in 2025 a major argument is against the new

labor governments doing very little for social housing [Music]