Housing Policy: England Under Thatcher
According to Ingemar Elander (913), during recent decades, rented housing estates throughout Europe and particularly in Great Britain have become the object of a veritable flood of programs targeting physical and social renewal and neighborhood or community regeneration. In the United Kingdom, under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party which came to power in 1979, a major housing policy shift was undertaken. This essay will examine English housing policy and regeneration strategies under Margaret Thatcher, focusing on the benefits and problems associated with ThatcherÆs policy initiatives.
Elander (914) has noted that when Thatcher office, only 12 percent of all rental property in England was rented privately while owner-occupation and local authority housing together comprised about 86 percent of the housing stock. Consequently, under Thatcher, the government decided to facilitate the privatization of housing stock and private ownership of what are known as ôcouncil housesö or publicly owned units. A major goal of the Thatcher Government was to facilitate private ownership and neighborhood regeneration funded by the private rather than the public sector; overall, Thatcher was convinced that government should remove itself (particularly at the local level) from the housing business, allowing the market to provide for housing needs. Further, offering the working class an opportunity to own their own homes was seen ad assisting this class in achieving greater self-sufficiency û and further reducing governmentÆs role in social welfare programming.
The Economist (17) has pointed out that when Mrs. Thatcher came to power in 1979 ôthey inherited û through the district councils û the local government authorities who were the actual owners û well over 6m units of rented social housing.ö This housing strategy had developed in England because ...