Eclipsing council housing
This chapter examines the politics involved in local authority housing supply. It records hostility to the idea, especially to subsidised council housing, at the end of the 19th century and Lloyd-George’s crucial role in securing its acceptance in 1918. It charts Conservative attempts to direct state help towards needs arising from slum clearance and its implications for housing form. The politics involved in the growth of council housing in the post Second World War period are examined in relationship to the Conservative revival of the sanitary approach, the protection of rural Britain, high- rise construction and the role of the architectural profession. The political implications of the residualisation of council housing are explored with reference to the image of council housing and attitudes towards its tenants.