Housing Policy in England since 1975: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Abstract

Over the past 30 years the housing system in England (and the rest of the UK) has undergone fundamental changes. This Special Issue of Housing Studies is based upon a major recent evaluation of English housing policy 1975–2000. This introductory paper outlines the aims and objectives of the evaluation, and its principal conclusions. It also sketches out the broader social and economic context for the evaluation, and provides a brief introduction to the substantive papers included in the Special Issue. These papers were selected to reflect the breadth of topics considered in the evaluation, and to represent the key housing policy debates and dilemmas that have contemporary resonance as well as historical significance.

Keywords:

• Housing policy
• England

Notes

¹ The department's name was changed in 2006 to Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the fourth such change in 10 years.

² The two background reports, the five theme reports, the evaluation of individual policies and the final report are referenced at the end of this paper. Copies can be downloaded from the DCLG web site. The site is difficult to navigate, but the reports can be located relatively easily by using a search engine, such as Google.