On UK Council House Privatization And Its Impact

Council house,as part of British public housing,is constructed by the local authorities and built to provide affordable houses in the form of renting.Since the start of council house construction after the Housing Act 1919,council house has been effective in fulfilling its purpose and changed the pattern of British public housing significantly.It thrived over the decades until the 1980s as the national trajectory of Britain shifted towards less government intervention.Starting from the Thatcher government.privatization policies were implemented to reform it,with much less council housing built since then.And with nearly forty years under several governments,the privatization of council housing is now basically complete.Given the fact that the council house privatization was led under different parties,the forms of privatization have varied.There are principally two forms-he "Right to Buy" scheme to tenants and "Large Scale Voluntary transfers" of housing stock from local authorities to housing associations.Along with some other minor forms,these privatization policies have profound impacts on the UK government,markets,housing industry and most certainly,the British people.After analysis,this thesis concludes that impacts of council house in the UK include the following aspects:1.In the early years of council house,its impacts are basically threefold.Firstly.it enabled the poor with better Husing conditions.The early phase of council housing provided working class in large cities with more favorable price to rent homes from local authorities instead of from the private sector.Secondly,it carried the nation through tough times after the war.The building of council houses helped to solve the housing crisis at the time when World War ? was tearing the country apart.And lastly,apart from its positive impacts,council house left problems into the country's future housing policy.2.Under the Thatcher government.the "Right to Buy" scheme had profound impacts in three perspectives:on British society.housing policy,as well as tenants and social landlords.For the British society,on the bright side of it,the "Right to Buy"enhanced social harmony by providing opportunities for those too poor to buy on the open market.On the downside,the "Right to Buy" caused disproportion in the social rented housing sector and greater instability in some communities especially with lower demand of housing.For British housing,the "Right to Buy" has reduced the supply of council houses lasting for decades in the UK since the 1940s.And it witnessed the decline of council landlordism.Lastly,for the participating tenants,they were undergoing the financial pressure from the insecurities of the RTB purchase.And as to the social landlords,they were suddenly forced with a series of legal responsibilities alongside with more financial costs.3.As Labour took over the office in the late 1990s,the council house privatization in the name of Large Scale Voluntary Transfer policy begun to accelerate.The LSVT took a radical financial approach to achieve results,and they were unable to prevent problems from happening in debts and government spending,and eventually hurting the taxpayers.It also cost more money for the tenants involved.But aside from the rising rent,most tenants involved in the LSVT process generally are content with the policy because in general they have more rights of their houses.Sadly,lives for the less favored residents under the LSVT,for instance the homeless and the discriminated,proved to be getting even harderThe importance of provision of social rented housing in meeting housing shortages has diminished and government has placed more importance on its use as a safety net for vulnerable households.After a successful four decades of privatization,it is almost certain that council house in its original form has bid its farewell.