J. B. Cullingworth - Essays on Housing Policy: The British Scene

Volume 1

ESSAYS ON HOUSING POLICY

The British Scene

J. B. CULLINGWORTH

First published in 1979 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd

This edition first published in 2021

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1979 George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd.

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THE BRITISH SCENE

J. B. Cullingworth

First published in 1979

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights are reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

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George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd, 1979

Typeset in 10 on 11 point Times by Bedford Typesetters Ltd and printed in Great Britain

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My involvement over the last decade with the Central Housing Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee on Rent Rebates and Rent Allowances, the Scottish Housing Advisory Committee and the English and Scottish Housing Policy Reviews prompted me to attempt a wide-ranging analysis of British housing policy (within an extensive historical framework), while at the same time revising and extending the now outdated Housing and Local Government (Allen & Unwin, 1966). My unexpected move to the University of Toronto made this impracticable, and the result is a far less comprehensive work than I had envisaged: hence the use of the term essays in the title. This excuse is not entirely convincing: a truly comprehensive book would have been a major, if not impossible, undertaking. As I embarked upon this in the period immediately prior to my move, I became more and more alarmed at the daunting prospect. Following the move I was tempted to abandon the project entirely, particularly since my initiation into the different complex of Canadian housing problems and policies immediately confused such clarity of thought as I naively felt I had attained in relation to the British situation.

But the book had been started, and an early draft brought encouraging responses. As a result the attraction of redesigning it in the form of a series of essays was too great to resist. My main stimulant was the dismay at the outcome of the housing policy review a dismay which was shared by colleagues who contributed far more to it than I had done. Those of us who were stimulated by the original enthusiasm of the late Tony Crosland (and who did not have to carry this over the political hurdles facing Peter Shore, his successor as Secretary of State for the Environment) were distressed that the huge effort on the part of those within and outside government should have produced such a poor creature as the consultative document for England and Wales. The Scottish product is somewhat less disappointing (as anyone who has a feeling for the different housing and political complexion of that country will know); but the major directions were set south of the border.

It was these personal feelings, together with my experience in working with the very able civil servants and their politically attuned ministers in both countries, which have made me reflect on the nature of policy making within British government and gave me some awareness (denied to most academics) of the art of the possible which I have tried to communicate in these essays. A wider understanding of this may contribute to a more useful debate on the future course of housing policy.

The essay form is a convenient one for an author who disclaims the goal of being comprehensive but, since a major theme throughout this book is that comprehensive policies are unattainable, there is more than an excuse. At times I despaired of achieving the comprehensible, let alone the comprehensive. Both the selection of issues and the way in which they were to be treated presented me with acute problems and, like any good research worker, I have jettisoned more than I have retained. The final outcome reflects my personal judgement in February 1978: nothing more is claimed, though it is hoped that the essays may make a small contribution to the continuing debate. Hopefully, also, the arbitrary has not become the idiosyncratic.

I dedicate these essays to my good friends in the Department of the Environment and the Scottish Development Department who have taught me so much. It is my immodest hope that the essays will assist in furthering the public debate without which even minor reforms in housing policy will be unattainable. Without this debate their political masters will be powerless to make more effective use of their services.

J. B. Cullingworth

Toronto

February 1978

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

2 HOUSING NEED AND DEMAND

Rhetoric and Reality

Problems of Measurement

Housing Markets

The Function of Council Housing

Grading of Council Tenants

Needs, Rights and Duties

Access

3 COUNCIL HOUSING FINANCE

Subsidies and Rents

Subsidy Policy and Counter-inflation Policy