You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
The 100-year anniversary of the Addison Act means it’s time to talk about council housing
Let’s use the 100th anniversary of council housing as we know it to flag up some of the great work that’s been done – and kick-start a conversation about the future, writes Martin Hilditch
Despite Liverpool having transferred its remaining homes to a housing association more than a decade ago, the city’s mayor, Joe Anderson, this week announced its intention to return to the business of providing council housing.
Standing in front of a patch of green space in Knotty Ash, he said the council would reopen its Housing Revenue Account and build the “affordable, social, council houses that we desperately need in this city”.
Obviously this raises numerous questions, which this magazine will explore over the coming weeks.
These include how quickly the council can get moving, is it better placed to deliver those social homes than the various housing associations that operate in the city and, if it is successful, will other councils which have transferred homes follow its lead?
Then, of course, the issue of the Right to Buy raises its head.
READ MORE
All of this is to come. But there was also a pleasing timing to the announcement. We are, after all, fast approaching the 100th anniversary of the birth of council housing as we know it. The Housing, Town Planning Act, more commonly known as the Addison Act, received royal assent in July 1919.
This was, of course, the period just after World War I – and the government of the day wanted to create homes for the returning combatants. While the act itself never quite delivered on the initial numbers it targeted, it nevertheless kick-started a period of dramatic growth in council housing and provided homes and security for generations of families. It’s one of this country’s great success stories.
Over the coming months, Inside Housing will be seeking to celebrate this significant anniversary. We will do this by looking back over the past century, but also looking forward – at councils like Liverpool and others – to what the future is likely to hold for council housing. Are the additional borrowing freedoms that councils were granted last year really going to result in a renaissance in local authority development? If so, what will this look like? More widely, what impact will this have on wider social housing markets, and what kinds of partnerships are likely to spring up as a result?
This isn’t work that Inside Housing is looking to carry out in isolation, though. Significant celebrations are already planned in a number of council areas, including Bristol, Doncaster and Hull. These include exhibitions of housing, books telling the stories of residents, walking tours of estates and work looking at future plans.
We want to get involved with and share as much of this work as possible – so, if you are planning events in your area or have pieces of research you want to share, please get in touch with me at martin.hilditch@insidehousing.co.uk.
Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing
