Originally published in 1979, this book was the first to provide a comprehensive political-economic analysis of the historical origins and 20th Century experience of state housing in the UK. The first part describes the growth of municipal housebuilding in the context of slum clearance before 1914 and the cycle of boom and slump between the wars. Part 2 covers 1945- 1980 with chapters on : site acquisition and residential densities; the housebuilding industry and its standards; the balance between rehabilitation and redevelopment and the rise and fall of the high-rise flat. Sources and costs of capital finance and the management of the stock of council dwellings is also discussed. The final part reviews the development of state housing policy since the War, within a broad political and macro-economic context.
Part 1: History 1. Before 1914: Accumulation, Contradiction and Reform 2. 1914 – 1939: Housing Policy and the Balance of Class Forces Part 2: The Contemporary Experience 3. Land: Site Acquisition and Residential Densities 4. Production: The Housebuilding Industry 5: Production Private Rehabilitation and Public Redevelopment 6. Finance: The Capital Market 7. Consumption: Rents and Subsidies 8. Consumption: Council House Management Part 3: Policy 9. Housing Policy Since the War 10. State Housing and State Policy in Historical Retrospect 11. A Strategy for the Future
Biography
Stephen Merrett
‘Merrett has written the best book on British council housing this reviewer has ever encountered. So good is it…it should serve as a model for the study of other housing economies.’ Roger Montgomery, Journal of the American Planning Association
‘…An outstanding original contribution to the analysis of the British housing system…the coherence derived from the author’s clarity of exposition of complex and detailed arguments make it also an invaluable basic text for courses which consider the housing system. ‘ Martin Boddy, Environmental and Planning
‘A sustained…critical analysis of a pioneering nature.’ Peter Dickens, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
