Chapter 5: De-fragmenting the (Post 1997) Social Housing Sector in England? Privatisation, Power and Provision, 1980–2023

The UK housing system has undergone major transformations over the last four decades. It has been privatised and fragmented as a result of the rise and dominance of neoliberal and managerial principles. These changes have led to the expansion of homeownership (in the hands of millions of individuals), the development of a not-for-profit sector divided into a multitude of small housing associations and the decline of local authorities which have lost their powers of building, regulating and sometimes even planning for new homes. At the same time, a counter-trend based on regulation and incorporation has favoured greater centralisation at national level. The housing system is not alone in that respect. The UK welfare state in general has been submitted to the same principles and forces over the same period that have aimed at fragmenting the erstwhile extensive powers of local authorities. Nevertheless, the pendulum appears to be swinging in the other direction: local authorities once side-lined are reclaiming some of their lost powers and are determined to have an active role again. This chapter examines how the housing system has become fragmented in the context of the transformation of the UK welfare state, and how the power of local government has been deliberately fragmented. It also reviews the consequences of this transformation on housing conditions and provision; finally, it raises the question of recent trends and policy choices possibly leading to the defragmentation of the system in the future.