Second World War bombing produced an acute shortage of housing. At first, both Labour and the Conservatives were committed to the public sector supplying the bulk of new housing. The Conservatives subsequently attempted to encourage owner occupation and stimulate the private rented sector, both of which ran into problems.
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Further reading
- Dunleavy, P., The Politics of Mass Housing in Britain 1945-1975: A Study of Corporate Power and Personal Influence in the Welfare State (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981)
- Jones, H., "This is Magnificent!": 300,000 Houses a Year and the Tory Revival after 1945 In Contemporary British History 14 pp. 99-121 (2000)
- O'Hara, G., Applied Socialism of a Fairly Moderate Kind: Scandinavia, British Policymakers and the Post-War Housing Market In Scandinavian Journal of History 33 pp. 1-25 (2008)
- Weiler, P., The Conservatives' Search for a Middle Way in Housing, 1951-64 In Twentieth Century British History 14 (4) pp. 360-390 (2003)
