Housing Policy Analysis

Abstract

It is no exaggeration to say that during course of the twentieth century British housing experienced a revolution. It was a quiet and long revolution, but its consequences transformed the structure and ownership of the nation’s housing stock, impacted dramatically on the economy and in recent decades has exerted a strong influence over the character of what has come to be known as the ‘post-industrial welfare state’. Although every country is in some way unique, some features of this development were very different from comparable nations in Europe and the wider group of OECD countries. This book is about what happened to British housing in the twentieth century, what the outcome was and, above all, why there was such dramatic change. The explanation requires not only a sensitivity to the historical and cultural context of the British case but also a discussion about the very nature of ‘housing’ itself and how it helps to shape the pattern of societies. The book is more, therefore, than an account of British housing, and one of its central arguments is that it is not possible truly to understand any one country in isolation from its more global context. If Britain is in some ways ‘different’ it must imply the questions ‘different from what and why?’