This new analysis of housing policy in Britain since 1945 challenges conventional notions of the relationship between housing and the welfare state. It argues that housing policy in the years after the Second World War is better understood in terms of market restructuring. However, in more recent years housing has been at the forefront of changes that have drawn it closer to other welfare state services, and the modernisation of public services is continuing the trend.

PETER MALPASS is Professor of Housing Policy, University of the West of England, UK.