Since the early 1900s, social housing has played a crucial role in addressing homelessness in Britain. In this article, we’ll travel from the dawn of social housing through to modern times, looking at the key pieces of legislation that were introduced along the way.
The concept of social housing has its roots in the Industrial Revolution, in which the influx of workers to cities led to rapid urbanisation and the development of slums.
Cities saw overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, and working-class families were unable to afford decent housing. Health epidemics and social unrest were common, which prompted early housing reforms. It also sparked the introduction of new public health legislation regarding sanitation, the management of sewage, and so on.
In the mid-19th century, before governments were involved in housing provision, philanthropic organisations and so-called enlightened industrialists began to address the housing crisis.
The model villages built by figures like Sir Titus Salt at Saltaire and George Cadbury at Bournville provided workers with better living conditions, setting a precedent for future social housing initiatives.
Homes were spacious, had gardens, and the villages had various community and recreational facilities. This certainly beat living in the slums or staying in the prison-like confines of the workhouses. Residents were also encouraged to grow fruit and vegetables and get regular exercise.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries marked the beginning of government intervention in housing. The recognition that housing was a fundamental need and the role of the state in providing it began to take shape.
This Act focused on public health as opposed to housing itself. It gave London councils the authority to buy the land on which the slums were built; from there, they could lease the land for new housing to be built. Many of the new properties were dedicated worker’s dwellings or lodging houses.
Other implications of the Act were:
The Act was an important step in recognising the need for government intervention in order to improve housing conditions. However, its impact on actually resolving homelessness was limited.
Local authorities themselves had to fund construction which limited the scale of development, while improvements regarding public health were often slow to be implemented. Also, urban areas were the focus here, so homelessness in rural areas was not addressed. Overall, the total number of units built were not sufficient to address homelessness at the time.
In 1990, the Act was expanded to all authorities except rural district councils. Some specific developments that began during this period include the Millbank Estate in Westminster which was completed in 1902.
The site, formerly Millbank Prison, provided housing for 4,430 people and – while it was supposed to be affordable – it wasn’t. With no government subsidy at the time, rents remained high.
After World War I, the need for extensive reconstruction led to significant developments in social housing. However, the cost of construction had increased during the war, which meant that government subsidy was necessary if the shortage were to be addressed.
The Housing Act of 1919 – also known as the Addison Act or more officially, the Housing, Town Planning etc Act 1919 – aimed to provide good quality housing for returning soldiers and their families. This gave it the nickname, “Homes Fit for Heroes”. As well as housing soldiers, the priority was to house workers and other families with children.
The plan was to build 500,000 new homes, but the plan was scrapped in 2021 after only 213,000 units had been completed due to efforts to cut public spending. In essence, it represented a more substantial and ambitious effort to address the housing crisis compared to earlier legislation, even if its impact was constrained by subsequent policy changes.
Later Acts introduced gave further importance to the role of local councils in housebuilding. The Housing Act of 1924 provided councils with significant grant funding, while the Housing Act of 1930 mandated all remaining slums to be cleared. This Act led to the construction of 700,000 new homes and the largest clearance of slums than ever before.
The devastation caused by World War II left many people homeless and necessitated massive rebuilding efforts. The rise in birth rates due to the Baby Boom was another driver of new construction efforts.
In 1945, the government launched an ambitious programme to quickly construct new housing. Prefabricated homes, known as prefabs, could be built within a week; in addition, short-term repairs were carried out on existing properties.
In 1946, the New Towns Act was introduced in order to address overcrowding. New towns were built and pre-cast reinforced concrete (PRC) construction took off.
According to Shelter, 126,000 social housing units were built every year in the 35 years after WW II, amounting to 4.4 million in total. At the start of the 1980s, around a third of households lived in social homes. Homelessness in the UK was at the lowest rates of the Century in the decades following the war.
By 1957, it became more common in Britain to invest in mixed-tenure developments and by the 1970s, social housebuilding had significantly declined in many European countries. Social housing stock reduced from the 1980s onwards after Britain’s Right to Buy policy was introduced.
Right to Buy wasn’t the only factor, however. Many consider the 1961 Land Compensation Act partially responsible, as it made local authorities purchase agricultural land at hope values (the value after development profits) rather than agricultural values.
Policy changes supporting private housing also contributed. (Despite that, private housebuilding was lower than in the rest of Western Europe from the late 50s to the 80s.)
The Housing Act of 1988 aimed to increase social housing development once again, with most subsequent projects being delivered via housing associations and private investment.
Over the past decade, more awareness has been brought to issues surrounding the health and safety risks of existing properties. After the Grenfell Tower fire, Shelter launched the Social Housing Commission with a view to help residents have their concerns addressed.
The introduction of the Social Housing Regulation Act, along with Awaab’s Law, also aims to tackle issues with damp and mould, which caused the death of two-year old Awaab Ishak who had a respiratory condition.
A rapidly increasing population, increasing rent prices, and issues with the planning system means the pressure is as high as ever for the country to continue building in its attempt to meet the ever-growing demand.
According to Shelter, homelessness is now at a record high in England, with 1.3 million households on waiting lists for social homes. Data released in February 2024 (for the period of the 1st of July to the 30th of September 2023) revealed the following:
Will the low rates of homelessness seen in post-WWII Britain ever return? There’s no easy answer to that question. But at SDS, we do our part in making the housing development process easier.
Using robust housing development software is an essential step in the expansion of social housing. Projects need efficient and accurate tools for planning and management, as opposed to relying on spreadsheets and their many risks.
Scheme viability software, land valuation software, and solutions for housing project management all play their part in helping developers execute projects in the most streamlined way possible and maintain effective communication with stakeholders.
Social housing has had a significant impact on reducing homelessness, most notably in the period after the Second World War. Earlier attempts were not so successful, but they paved the way for the provision of housing to become a priority for the government. They also drove improvements in health and safety and expanded the concept of social housing into more rural areas.
Those days didn’t last, however. With Homelessness in England now at a record high, the pressure to solve the housing crisis increases by the day.
Whilst we can’t change regulation, we can help your projects run as smoothly as possible. To learn more about how our housing development software can help you assess viability and manage projects with ease, contact us today.