Introduction

Housing policy in Britain has had a precarious relationship with social policy and the welfare state. At times, governments have appeared to believe that housing the population can be left to the market; and, at times, housing has been part of economic rather than social policy. But throughout, housing has had an unavoidable relationship with the modern welfare state. Housing directly relates to two of Beveridge's five giant evils – Want and Squalor – and indirectly impacts on the remaining three, because action to address Idleness, Disease and Ignorance is more successful where there is effective housing provision. Housing costs also form key elements in household budgets and social insurance and assistance schemes have to take these costs into account.

The approach to housing announced by the Coalition government in the 18 months following its election in 2010 draws attention to the position of housing in the wider welfare state. Although the immediate context was the credit crunch and economic recession, the proposals represented an attempt to realign housing in the welfare state. The Coalition initially focused on reducing government borrowing and embarked on a familiar round of housing expenditure cuts, with consequences for house-building and housing costs. Nevertheless, the housing strategy published in November 2011 declared that boosting housing construction was critical for the economy as well as housing opportunities. It boldly and categorically declared that ‘Previous housing policies have failed’ (HMG, 2011, p 1), but then set out an agenda that marked continuity with previous policy more than innovation. The reform of Housing Benefit, revival of private renting, the Right to Buy (RTB) and private development, and higher rents involved more of the same. The Coalition's proposals were designed to reduce social security spending, increase local control over housing and affect behaviour in seeking work and in housing and mobility. Under longer-term plans, Housing Benefit would be incorporated into a new Universal Credit (UC) (see Chapter One in this volume). Taken together, these proposals break the established pattern of tenants’ rights and security in social rented housing and could force relocation for some lower-income households, especially in the private rented sector.

This chapter discusses the Coalition government's proposals relating to housing in a historical context.