State Housing Policy Formation and the Changing Role of Housing Associations in Britain

Abstract

During the 1960s the Conservative government implemented legislation which provided financial support for the provision of privately rented accommodation by organisations independent of government. Their 1961 Housing Act established an exchequer fund to provide resources for housing associations providing accommodation at economic rents, and the 1964 Housing Act created the Housing Corporation to oversee the activity of the housing association movement. By the early 1980s however, a new Conservative administration was attempting to force all associations to sell their properties to sitting tenants. This dramatic switch from the promotion of independent renting to the promotion of ownership raises important questions about the nature of government support for the association movement, and the more general issue of the nature of government policy formation. Had the association movement changed between the 1960s and the 1980s, or had Conservative attitudes towards the movement changed during this time? If the latter explanation is correct, what does this tell us about the nature of state intervention in housing? In order to address these questions it is first necessary to examine the historical legacy of housing association activity which the 1961 Act sought to supplement.