History of the Housing Crisis

This book explores the history of the politics of housing to provide a critical understanding of the contemporary housing crisis and inspire struggles for decent, affordable and secure homes today.

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This book presents a history of the struggle that has brought us to the present crisis. The way housing was organised in mid-twentieth century Britain did a better job of providing people with decent, secure and affordable homes than the way it is ordered today. This was not benevolently bestowed by some caring government but was won through collective struggle. Council housing, rent controls and regulated tenancies represented not only an important set of material gains, but a recognition by the state that it had a responsibility to house the people. During the 1980s these gains were eroded and ever since successive governments from both political camps have sought to remove the state from the provision and regulation of housing. This transformation was also the result of political struggle. This book demonstrates that housing was a key vehicle through which neoliberal ideas were translated into policy and practice. By every measure this experiment has been a failure. Through an understanding of the range of strategies deployed in the struggle for better housing, we can begin to work out how to continue this fight today.