John English - The Future of Council Housing

Volume 4

THE FUTURE OF COUNCIL HOUSING

Edited by
JOHN ENGLISH

First published in 1982 by Croom Helm Ltd

This edition first published in 2021

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

1982 John English

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-0-367-64519-9 (Set)

ISBN: 978-1-00-313856-3 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-67823-4 (Volume 4) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-00-313324-7 (Volume 4) (ebk)

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Edited by John English

Preface

2 A New Era for Council Housing? Alan Murie

3 The Financial and Economic Implications of Council House Sales Bernard Kilroy

4 The Social Implications of Council House Sales Ray Forrest

5 The Demand for Home Ownership Colin Jones

6 Ideology and Housing Management Pam Gallagher

7 Private Housing at All Costs: Some Lessons from America Valerie Karn

8 The Choice for Council Housing John English

Appendix: Report of the House of Commons Environment Committee on Council House Sales

Notes on Contributors

Council housing has developed since the 1920s until it is now one of the two dominant tenures in Britain, catering for nearly a third of households. It is thus far removed from, for instance, American public housing which accommodates only the poorest in society. In recent years, however, under the combined influences of a sharp reduction in the level of investment and of a growing number of sales, there has been increasing uncertainty about the future of council housing. Both trends have been heightened by the policies of the Conservative government elected in 1979, whose cuts in public expenditure are concentrated on council housing and which has introduced the tenants statutory right to buy at a substantial discount on market value. Looking into the future it is possible to envisage, and this is certainly the governments objective, a much smaller and radically altered council sector which will be confined to the residual role of meeting the real needs of those who are unable to achieve owner occupation.

Discussion of policy towards council housing - and particularly towards sales - has been bedevilled by crude assertions and lack of analysis. The aim of this book is to examine the present state of council housing, to clarify the implications of government policies (especially its emphasis on sales), and to look at prospects for the future. The council sector cannot be examined in isolation from the rest of the housing system: for example, almost any significant change affecting it is likely to have repercussions on owner occupation. Furthermore, housing policy has implications for the economy as a whole. The book thus seeks to take a wide-ranging view of council housing. If one future for the council sector is implicit in the policies of the present government, none of the other main parties has a coherent alternative. Certainly the position before the present government took office does not represent such an alternative; the attractions which are conferred on owner occupation by subsidy and taxation policy ensured that the drift towards residual council housing was already well-established. Some of the requirements for the continued existence of a large council sector catering for a wide range of households are outlined in the final chapter. Choices about policy are quite properly political decisions, but it is desirable that they should be made in the light of a realistic view of likely costs and benefits. This book may make some contribution to more informed debate about housing policy.

Two final points should be made. First, although the book is specifically concerned with council housing, owned and managed by local authorities, most of the analysis is equally applicable to the (small) remainder of the public sector in Britain - mainly housing provided by the new towns and the Scottish Special Housing Association. Terms such as the public sector are generally used interchangeably with council housing. Secondly, housing is a field where policy statements, research findings and so forth appear fairly continuously so that no book can be absolutely up to date when it is published, but as far as possible account has been taken of developments up to mid-1981. There is an appendix on the final report of the House of Commons Environment Committee on council house sales which was published after the main text of the book had been completed.

David Whitham

The building of council but this chapter attempts to outline the evolving role, size and form of the public sector. Statistics have generally been avoided, though tables are included showing numbers of dwellings built and, for more recent years, the breakdown between houses and flats.