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The ideological importance of housing.
'The money we are going to spend on housing is an insurance against Bolshevism and Revolution'. With these words, the Secretary to the Local Government Board finally convinced his Ministers that despite the global economic downturn and the financial burden of overseas military commitments, they should invest in a national house-building programme to quell the rising tide of domestic anger directed at the government.
The year was 1919, and although much has changed (the prospect of a Bolshevik uprising is very rarely a factor in policy deliberations today), a progressive government once again finds itself trying to deal with the economic and political fall-out of a sudden and severe housing crisis. Lloyd George's cabinet opted for a radical break with the past, by rejecting the pre-war ideology of laissez faire development in favour of the first national house-building programme. Today, we also need to plan for something more ambitious than a return to normalcy. Housing is a profoundly ideological issue. But like food and water, it is such a basic need, such a normal part of everyday life that it's only at times of crisis, when its supply can no longer be guaranteed, that the terms and conditions of its production and distribution are questioned and challenged--or at least can be questioned and challenged. The potential for re-thinking, in the context of the current crisis, how housing should be produced and d...See the full content of this document
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