Editing Public housing (section)

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Public housing in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Blackfriars, Salford.jpg|thumb|upright|A variety of social housing in [[City of Salford|Salford]], [[Greater Manchester]], England.]]
[[File:Park Hill, Sheffield, Yorkshire 19th January 2020.jpg|thumb|[[Park Hill, Sheffield|Park Hill]] in [[Sheffield]], [[Yorkshire]], England.]]
[[File:Cwmbran tower block.jpg|thumb|200px |A local-authority 20-storey tower block in [[Cwmbran]], [[South Wales]].|alt=]]

In the United Kingdom public housing is often referred to by the British public as "[[council house|council housing]]" and "council estates", based on the historical role of district and borough councils in running public housing. Mass council house building began in about 1920 in order to replace older and dilapidated properties.<ref name="Hollow 2011"/> This followed the [[Addison Act|1919 'Addison' Act]] and the provision of central state subsidies; some local authority or municipal housing was provided before 1914.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newcastleareas.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/100-years-exhibition-the-1919-act/|title=100 years exhibition – the 1919 Act|last=Geography|first=Kay's|date=11 August 2019|website=Newcastle residential areas|language=en|access-date=2019-08-12|archive-date=12 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812152933/https://newcastleareas.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/100-years-exhibition-the-1919-act/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Housing was a major policy area under [[First Wilson ministry|Wilson's Labour government]], 1964 to 1970, with an accelerated pace of new building, as there was still a great deal of unfit housing needing replacement. Tower blocks, first built in the 1950s, featured prominently in this era. The proportion of council housing rose from 42% to 50% of the nation's housing total,<ref name="shorthistory">A Short History of the Labour Party by Alastair J. Reid and Henry Pelling</ref> while the number of council homes built increased steadily, from 119,000 in 1964 to 133,000 in 1965 and to 142,000 in 1966.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

Allowing for demolitions, 1.3&nbsp;million new homes were built between 1965 and 1970.<ref>Thorpe, Andrew. (2001) ''A History of the British Labour Party'', Palgrave, {{ISBN|978-0-333-92908-7}}</ref> To encourage home ownership, the government introduced the Option Mortgage Scheme (1968), which made low-income house buyers eligible for subsidies (equivalent to [[mortgage interest relief at source|tax relief on mortgage interest payments]]).<ref>Housing policy: an introduction by Paul N. Balchin and Maureen Rhoden</ref> This scheme had the effect of reducing housing costs for buyers on low incomes.<ref name="autogenerated2">Capitalism and public policy in the UK by Tom Burden and Mike Campbell</ref>

Since the 1970s, non-profit [[housing association]]s have been operating an increasing share of social housing properties in the United Kingdom.  From 1996 they have also been known as Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), and public housing has been referred to as "social housing" to encompass both councils and RSLs.  Despite being non-profit based, RSLs generally charge higher rents than councils.  However, the Westminster Government introduced a "rent re-structuring" policy for housing associations in England in 2002, which aimed to bring council and RSL rents into line in England by 2012.<ref>{{cite web|title=27/01 Rent influencing regime – implementing the rent restructuring framework| url=http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.2370|publisher=[[Housing Corporation]]| access-date=19 December 2012 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100113205514/http://www.housingcorp.gov.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.2370|archive-date=13 January 2010 |date=22 October 2001}}</ref> Local planning departments may require private-sector developers to offer "affordable housing" as a condition of [[planning permission]] ([[section 106 agreement]]).  This accounts for another £700m of Government funding each year for tenants in part of the United Kingdom. As of 2012, Housing Associations are now also referred to as "Private Registered Providers of Social Housing" (PRPs).<ref>{{cite web|title=Housing association homes|url=https://www.gov.uk/housing-association-homes/apply-for-a-home|publisher=[[GOV.UK]]|access-date=19 December 2012|archive-date=30 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030103909/https://www.gov.uk/housing-association-homes/apply-for-a-home|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Ferry Lane Estate.JPG|thumb|left|1970s council housing in [[London Borough of Haringey|Haringey]], North London.]]

Local authorities have been discouraged from building council housing since 1979 following the election of Conservative leader [[Margaret Thatcher]] as prime minister.  The [[Parker Morris Committee|Parker Morris]] standard was abolished for those that were built, resulting in smaller room sizes and fewer facilities. The [[Right to Buy Scheme|Right to Buy]] was introduced, resulting in the move of some of the best stock from public tenanted to private owner occupation.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

Since the year 2000, "choice-based lettings" (CBL)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingmanagementcare/choicebasedlettings/ |title=Choice-Based Lettings |author=Housing |work=Content under review |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080627184309/http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingmanagementcare/choicebasedlettings/ |archive-date = 27 June 2008}}</ref> have been introduced to help ensure social housing was occupied speedily as tenants moved. This can still favour the local over the non-local prospective tenant.  In a number of local authority areas, due to the shortage of council housing, three out of four properties may be designated for priority cases (those living in poor overcrowded conditions, with medical or welfare needs, or needing family support) or homeless applicants in order to meet the councils' legal obligations to rehouse people in need.  The percentage of properties set aside for vulnerable groups will vary dependent on the demand for council housing in the area.  All local authorities have a Housing Strategy to ensure that council houses are let fairly and fulfil the council's legal obligations; deal with people in need; and contribute to sustainability of housing estates, neighbourhood regeneration, and social inclusion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/strategiesandreviews/localauthorityhousing/ |title=Local authority strategic housing role |author=Housing |work=Content under review |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080328105627/http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/strategiesandreviews/localauthorityhousing/ |archive-date = 28 March 2008}}</ref>

The 1997–2010 Labour Government wished to move council housing away from local authority management.  At first, this was through Large Scale Voluntary Transfers (LSVT) of stock from councils to Housing Associations (HAs).  Not all council property could be transferred, as in some local authorities, their housing stock was in poor condition and had a capital value less than the remaining debts from construction costs—in effect, the council stock was in negative equity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cih.org/display.php?db=policies&id=62 |title=Response Paper |year=1999 |publisher=Chartered Institute of Housing |access-date=14 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721062619/http://www.cih.org/display.php?db=policies&id=62 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In some local authority areas, the tenants rejected the transfer option.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/council-tenants-vote-against-housing-transfer-plans-656887.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128190744/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/council-tenants-vote-against-housing-transfer-plans-656887.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 January 2012 |title=Council tenants vote against housing transfer plans |author=Lorna Duckworth |date=9 April 2002 |department=Social Affairs Correspondent  |work=[[The Independent]] |access-date=14 September 2010}}</ref>

The Labour Government introduced a "third way": the [[Arms Length Management Organisation]] (ALMO), where the housing stock stays with the Local Authority but is managed by a not-for-profit organisation at arm's length from the Local Authority.  It also introduced the [[Decent Homes Standard|Decent Homes]] programme, a capital fund to bring social housing up to a modern physical standard.  To use this fund, the manager, whether ALMO or HA, had to achieve a 2 or 3 star rating from its inspection by the [[Audit Commission (United Kingdom)|Audit Commission]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/housing/inspection/pages/default.aspx |title=Housing inspections |access-date=14 September 2010 |archive-date=17 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217175917/http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/housing/inspection/Pages/default.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> This was intended to drive up management standards.  Council landlords cannot access this funding, another incentive to transfer management of council housing to an ALMO or HA.

Governments since the early 1990s have also encouraged "mixed [[housing tenure|tenure]]" in regeneration areas and on "new-build" housing estates, offering a range of ownership and rental options, with a view to engineering social harmony through including "social housing" and "[[affordable housing]]" options. A recent research report<ref>[http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/hsa/papers/tunstall.pdf The Promotion of 'Mixed Tenure': In Search of the Evidence Base] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051026194051/http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/hsa/papers/tunstall.pdf |date=26 October 2005 }} Paper by Dr. Rebecca Tunstall on tenure mixing</ref> has argued that the evidence base for tenure mixing remains thin. Social housing occupants may be stigmatised and forced to use a [[poor door]] that is separate and less convenient than the door the unsubsidised occupants use and social housing may be less desirably situated.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jul/30/poor-door-social-housing-apartheid|title='Poor doors': not the worst thing about social housing|first=Oliver|last=Wainwright|newspaper=The Guardian|date=30 July 2014|via=www.theguardian.com|access-date=12 December 2016|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510120334/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/jul/30/poor-door-social-housing-apartheid|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the adoption of [[austerity#United Kingdom|austerity]] policies in 2010 the traditional "safety net" model was maintained by the devolved administrations like the [[Scottish Parliament|Scottish]] and [[Senedd|Welsh]] Parliaments and the [[Northern Ireland Assembly]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Mark|last1=Stephens|url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/220445/1/220445.pdf|title=Social Rented Housing in the (DIS)United Kingdom: Can Different Social Housing Regime Types Exist within the Same Nation State?|doi=10.1080/17535069.2017.1381760|journal=Urban Research and Practice|date=September 16, 2017|volume=12|issn=	1753-5069|oclc=	8017236155|pages=38–60|s2cid=158854423 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106235229/http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/220445/1/220445.pdf|archive-date=November 6, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>
  
Most UK social housing tenants have the right to swap homes with another tenant even if their landlords are different. This is called a "[[mutual exchange]]".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bray|first=Abbie|date=2018-04-11|title=Council house exchange – how it works and what the rules are|url=https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/uk-world-news/council-house-exchange-how-works-1444222|access-date=2021-03-07|website=CornwallLive|language=en|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422032241/https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/uk-world-news/council-house-exchange-how-works-1444222|url-status=dead}}</ref> As of 2017, in England, local authorities can destinate homeless households in local tenancies, whereas in Scotland social housing remained the first chosen policy.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.i-sphere.hw.ac.uk/social-rented-housing-in-the-disunited-kingdom/|title=Social Rented Housing in the (Dis)United Kingdom|doi=10.1080/17535069.2017.1381760|date=October 5, 2017|journal=Urban Research and Practice|s2cid=158854423|access-date=May 27, 2021|archive-date=27 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527085716/https://www.i-sphere.hw.ac.uk/social-rented-housing-in-the-disunited-kingdom/|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to the [[Museum of Homelessness]], in 2020 the UK recorded at least 976 deaths among homeless people.<ref>{{cite web|first1=Clea|last1=Skopeliti|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/22/uk-homeless-deaths-rise-by-more-than-a-third-in-a-year-study-finds|title=UK homeless deaths rise by more than a third in a year, study finds|date=February 22, 2021|access-date=May 27, 2021|website=The Guardian|archive-date=27 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527102726/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/22/uk-homeless-deaths-rise-by-more-than-a-third-in-a-year-study-finds|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019 England and Wales estimated 778 deaths with an increase of 7.2% on the previous year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsofhomelesspeopleinenglandandwales/2019registrations#glossary|title=Deaths of homeless people in England and Wales: 2019 registrations|date=October 1, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210527100649/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsofhomelesspeopleinenglandandwales/2019registrations%23glossary|archive-date=May 27, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>