Making accommodation affordable and accessible to those in need has been a constant priority in the UK for decades.

Localism and Devolution

Strategic Authorities and Mayors have become pivotal players in housing delivery across England, driving local strategies to address housing shortages and tailor development to regional needs.

The introduction of the English Devolution Bill in July 2025 marked an important milestone by formalising and expanding these powers, granting Mayors and local authorities increased power over planning, housing investment, and infrastructure decisions.

This legislation is designed to accelerate local decision-making and promote more responsive, regionally tailored housing solutions, aligning with Labour’s broader devolution agenda.

Geopolitics, budget and financial instability:

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first year in office has been defined by efforts to stabilise the economy, restore fiscal credibility and unlock growth amid global uncertainty.

The March 2025 Spring Statement came against a backdrop of downgrading GDP forecasts – now just 1% – as the OBR cited political shocks and trade friction as key risks. The Chancellor pledged £40bn in tax rises and outlined a £22bn fiscal gap inherited from the previous government, with new tax measures and welfare reform designed to rebalance public finances.

Despite budget constraints, the Government allocated £2bn toward affordable housing as part of the 1.5 million homes pledge, though welfare changes – projected to save £4.8bn – sparked concern, as they could result in substantial income reductions for many.

Meanwhile, May’s UK-EU Summit marked a reset in relations, with leaders agreeing a Strategic Partnership. While housing wasn’t the focus, improved cooperation supports labour mobility and material supply stability – critical for housing delivery and economic resilience in a volatile geopolitical landscape.

Together, fiscal reform and renewed international ties are shaping a housing strategy that must navigate both constraint and opportunity.

With around two million homes destroyed and many more damaged in Britain during World War II, two-thirds of which were in London, millions were made homeless. The change in government in 1945 did not stop many of the wartime concepts from being introduced by the new Labour administration. This included introducing legislation that removed explicit references to housing for the ‘working-class’ and introduced the concept of ‘general needs’ – that council housing should be available for a variety of needs and members of society.

Prefabricated homes

Following the war, homes were needed quickly and cheaply, and the idea of ‘rebuilding’ was both a symbolic and physical aspiration.

Envisaged under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944, after a review of public housing in 1942, prefabricated homes (or ‘Prefabs’, as they became colloquially known) became the symbol of post-war rebuilding. To keep costs and build times down, they were created using new construction techniques including pre-cast reinforced concrete (PRC).

It was originally intended that there would be 500,000 Prefabs, designed to have a 20-year lifespan. However, only 150,000 were built as part of the Government’s post-war building programme out of a total of 1,500,000 new homes between 1945 and 1951.

Despite being a temporary solution, many of these homes still existed well into the 21st century.

The New Towns Act 1946

In 1944, the Abercrombie Plan for London was published, proposing eight new towns to be built within 50 miles around London. These towns would be designed to accommodate up to 500,000 inner-Londoners to combat overpopulation in urban areas, with similar scenarios proposed for Manchester, Birmingham and elsewhere.

The Atlee Government, having unexpectedly won the 1945 General Election, established the New Towns Commission to build on the Abercrombie Plan. The Commission concluded that Development Corporations, backed by the Government, would be needed to bring forward these new towns.

The Commission also recommended that these settlements should be built for up to 60,000 people, organised into neighbourhoods (with associated shops, amenities, and infrastructure) and, controversially, should be primarily built on greenfield sites.

The first of these new towns was Stevenage, approved in 1946, with 14 others planned throughout the 1940s including Crawley, Hemel Hempstead, Harlow, and Basildon.

The birth of town planning

Before World War II there was very little top-down control over the planning of settlements. In the 1930s, expansion of suburban areas was largely uncontrolled, and undersigned, meaning that it soon got out of hand. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 was passed through Parliament to counter concerns about this ‘sprawl’, requiring new developments to receive planning permission before they could go ahead, with development plans being required for each county. Many of the measures introduced in the Act still apply today, or form the basis upon which newer measures were built upon.

Council housing at its peak

The 1950s saw the Government’s investment in council housing hit peak levels as it sought to address poor quality housing and housing shortages. In 1951, only half of English households had their own fixed bath, toilet, running hot water and a stove. Therefore, it was felt that more needed to be done to help get poorer families into good quality housing. Under Harold Macmillan, then Housing Minister, the Conservatives set themselves an ambitious target of 300,000 new homes a year, the bulk of which would be two-bedroom terraces. Known colloquially as the ‘People’s House’, these properties were smaller in size and standard to those previously constructed in the post-war housing programme.

The following graph demonstrates the marked decline in council house building throughout the later 20th century from private, social, and local authority builders.

Clearing the slums

Clearing the slums was a major policy aim of the inter-war period between the First and Second World Wars, and was once again a priority during the 1950s. The aspiration to do this had been demonstrated in 1930 with the passing of the Housing Act, which included slum clearance measures, but these were largely unused once war became more likely and then dominated the political agenda. To do this, local authorities were given powers of compulsory purchase to purchase urban land and housing for development. This included poor quality, cramped and overpopulated homes that had become unfortunately common – partly due to the pressures of the war and the loss of homes due to bombing raids.

Maximising this land was crucial, and so funding for local authority housing was prioritised for higher densities, with the most homes possible placed on as little land as possible. In 1951, the UK’s first multi-storey residential apartment tower block was completed at The Lawn in Harlow, Essex. This showcased the potential for high-rise development to solve the housing crisis.

Housing association activity in this was minimal, with the vast majority of social housing being provided by councils and in new towns. This resulted in a large-scale up-rooting of families across the country, many of whom who were later re-housed in these new ‘communities’. More than 900,000 would be moved from slums during the 1950s and 1960s.

Rise in home ownership

Encouraging home ownership has long been a policy priority for the Conservative Party, in order to help people achieve their aspiration of owning their own home. This took off in earnest in the 1950s, when the Conservatives returned to power. In 1951, only 29% of households owned their homes but by 1964, when they left office, this had increased to 45%. Helping people to achieve home ownership would continue to be a staple Conservative policy long into the later 20th century and in the 21st too.

The Green Belt

While the notion of the ‘Green Belt’ – a land use designation for areas of largely undeveloped or agricultural land that acts as a buffer between major settlements – had first been proposed in 1935, it wasn’t until 1955 that the Government began encouraging local authorities to consider protecting land around their settlements and officially designating them as Green Belts. Green Belt protections are still in place today, with the Government prioritising brownfield development before the Green Belt is built on. Approximately 13% of land in England is currently designated Green Belt, some 1,600,000 hectares.

The Green Belt has since become a controversial aspect of the planning system, with some suggesting that it is vital to protect the natural environment from urban sprawl and others saying it is a barrier to building the new homes we need.

Second Housing Bubble

The Right to Buy policy saw the value of homeowners’ assets surge in what became known as the second housing bubble – the Lawson Boom. House prices rose by 16% in 1987 and a further 25% in 1988, creating a positive wealth effect. This is turn led to an increase in consumer spending.

The Lawson Boom was a classic example of a ‘boom and bust’ economic cycle. The late 1980s were a period of rapid economic expansion. This ‘boom’ period followed on from the recession of 1981 where unemployment had peaked at three million.

Collapse of council housing

In its 1987 White Paper ‘Housing: the Government’s Proposals’, the Government set out the main objectives of its future housing policy in England and Wales, which included giving council tenants the right to transfer to other landlords if they chose to. The legislation that gave impetus to this reform was contained in the Housing Act 1988. The Government’s rationale behind this policy was the perception that the public sector was not paying enough attention to the wishes of tenants. It felt that by offering tenants a variety of forms of ownership and management, their requirements would be better met.

The Housing Act 1988 also spelled out ways in which councils could dispose of some or all of their housing stock to other landlords under powers in the Housing and Planning Act 1986. Many councils explored the possibility of transferring their stock to housing associations. This required a balloting system, whereby the majority of tenants in an authority would have to vote in favour of voluntary transfer to the housing association for it to take over.

Reform of Housing Associations

The Housing Act 1988 also introduced several reforms for Housing Associations. The Government sought to expand the housing association sector by drawing in private finance to create ‘mixed funding’ schemes. The attraction of this formula was that any given level of capital grant to housing associations could achieve more new building for letting than the same funding for local authorities, who were unable to lever in private loans. However, it also meant that housing associations were operating at greater financial risks.

The Government also introduced the policy of Housing Action Trusts. This was the Government’s key strategy to improve the most run-down council estates and, ultimately, give tenants of these estates a choice over whether the estates should be run by local authorities, housing associations or private companies.

New Labour’s spending limits

In the run-up to the 1997 General Election, the leader of the Labour Party, Tony Blair, pledged to stick to the Conservative Government’s spending plans. Having won with a landslide majority in 1997, Tony Blair could implement his ‘New Labour’ manifesto, one which he hoped would overcome the narrative that Labour could not be trusted with the economy. In 1997/98, just over £4 billion was spent by the Government on social housing – less than in any year during the Conservative’s 18-year administration beforehand. Indeed, the Labour Government only increased investment into social housing during its third term in office, in the 2005/06 and 2008/09 financial years.

Continuity of stock transfer

During the early years of the New Labour Government (1997-98), Labour continued with the ‘stock transfer’ programme where council homes were being sold off to housing associations. Between 1997 and 2010 almost one million council homes had been sold to housing associations, 80% of all stock transfer sales since the Conservatives launched the Right to Buy programme.

The third housing bubble

The New Labour years experienced strong economic growth over a sustained period. Workers were earning more and the unemployment rate declined, while the financial deregulation begun during the Thatcher years continued. As a result, it was particularly easy to access mortgages, coupled with the willingness to lend, that made housing seem more affordable. Because 31% of all money created between 2000 and 2007 went to residential property, house prices rose considerably faster than wages. This contributed to Britain’s third big housing bubble of the post-war period. The average house price more than doubled from £100,000 in 2000 to just under £225,000 in 2007, before the financial crash brought the boom to an end.

Changes to the Right to Buy

The New Labour Government devolved housing powers to Scotland and Wales, and these administrations adopted different approaches to the Right to Buy. Given that fewer new homes were being built, Right to Buy discounts were reduced from £50,000 to £25,000 in 1999. Restrictions were also introduced on resale of Right to Buy homes in designated rural areas. Increasing concerns about abuses of the Right to Buy and the impact of the Right to Buy on regeneration of council estates were addressed in the Housing Act 2004 which also extended the initial qualification period from two to five years and extended the discount repayment period from three to five years. These changes reduced the rate of sales.

Raising standards in social housing

New Labour also committed to raising standards in social housing. This included making all social homes warm, weatherproof and fit with reasonably modern facilities under its new decent homes standard, which launched in 2002. Landlords were given until the end of 2010 to get their properties up to scratch. By 2007 86% of all social homes had met the standard, compared with less than half in 1997.

The impact on housing

A significant impact of the financial crisis was the decline in new house building. In particular, small and medium-sized (SME) developers, as well as prospective buyers, struggled to secure funding and many were subsumed by the major developers. In 1988, 40% of new homes in the UK were built by SME builders; today that stands at just 12%. In June 2008, the number of new houses being built in Britain plummeted by nearly 60% from a year previously to 6,890 as tighter mortgage lending conditions put off potential home buyers.

The recession also took its toll on the labour market. Due to the slump in the housing market, 5,000 building workers alone were laid off in the first few months of the crash. By July 2008 property sales had hit a 30-year low, another blow to the housebuilding market.

The development of public housing also suffered and the impact was two-fold. Many housing associations had diversified into building properties for sales and so were also caught up in the steeply rising credit costs and a collapse in land house prices. At the same time, public housing was also dependent on private sales to deliver units through Section 106 agreements – legal agreements between Local Authorities and developers, whereby the developer contributes to improvements in infrastructure in the local are or obliging to an affordable housing contribution.

Establishment of the Homes and Communities Agency

When Tony Blair stepped down as Prime Minister in 2007 and Gordon Brown took over, a new Green Paper ‘Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable’ set a fresh target to accelerate annual house building rates to 240,000 homes a year by 2016.

Under the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) was established as one of the successor bodies to the Housing Corporation, taking over the Housing Corporation’s role as Social Housing Regulator and funder of new affordable housing in England.

As part of the HCA, a National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP) was set up committing £8.4 billion of funding over the period 2008-2011 to provide 155,000 new affordable homes. Furthermore, the Government announced more than £1 billion of funding for affordable housing during 2009. However, due to the collapse of the global financial market, and house building plummeting, the HCA’s role became the housing market’s rescuer rather than accelerator. As UK development figures fell during 2008 to just 37,380 completions in the first quarter of 2009, the HCA pumped an extra £1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money to kickstart stalled projects and help social landlords build through the credit crunch.

Reform to housing grant and ‘Affordable Rents’

The Coalition Government’s agenda of reducing government spending saw a reduction in capital spending on affordable housing (including housing association homes) from £8.4 billion to £4.5 billion by 2014/15 as part of the ‘Affordable Homes Programme’. As part of this, housing associations would have to bid for grant funding, with delivery agreements made with the Homes and Communities Agency. Social landlords would be able to charge rents of up to 80% of the market rate (now known as ‘affordable rent’, to make up this shortfall. Further funding of £3.3 billion for the period 2015-18 was announced in 2013.

Since the introduction of affordable rents, there have been questions asked about whether social housing is now genuinely affordable to those on low-incomes. Meanwhile, the number of new homes built for social rent has dropped from two-thirds of all new social housing in 2010/11 to 10% in 2016/17. However, housing associations have diversified their offerings, including new models of affordable home ownership such as shared-ownership, meaning that total housing association development has increased on average since 2010/11.

Institutional Private Rented Sector

Since 2010 the private rented sector (PRS) has continued to grow as the Coalition Government encouraged institutional investment in the sector. The Government hoped that encouraging this investment would lead to a ‘professionalisation’ of the sector, while reducing the impact of so-called ‘rogue landlords’ who offer poor housing conditions but charge high rents to take advantage of demand outweighing supply.

Voluntary Right to Buy

Ahead of the 2015 General Election, in a bid to reignite one of its electorally popular policies, the Conservatives announced that they would extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants. Upon winning a majority at the Election, the Government introduced a Housing and Planning Bill which included the extension. The National Housing Federation (NHF), on behalf of the housing association sector, offered to Government that the sector would implement this through a voluntary agreement, with the Government paying discounts to eligible tenants to help them to buy their homes. The agreement gave the housing association sector more control over which houses could be sold, guaranteed them full compensation for properties sold, and ensured that the homes would be replaced on a one-for-one (but not like-for-like) basis. The discounts would be paid for by the sale of high-value council housing.

The voluntary Right to Buy is currently being piloted by five housing associations across the country, with a further pilot having previously been announced.

NPPF

In 2010, the Government announced its intention to consolidate all planning policy statements, circulars and guidance documents into a single document: the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Following a consultation draft being published, the final 65-page document was published in March 2012, down from over 1,300 pages. Local authorities have now had to ensure that their planning policies are compliant with this reduced policy framework.

UK votes to leave the EU

On 23 June 2016, after a long and fraught campaign, the UK voted to leave the European Union by 52% to 48%.

This sparked the end of David Cameron’s tenure as Prime Minister, as well as years of negotiations with the EU over the UK’s exit ‘deal’, which would not conclude until late 2019.

Homelessness Reduction Act 2017

Over 50 years since the Cathy Come Home campaign, and 40 years after the Housing (Homeless People) Act 1977, a new Homelessness Reduction Act was passed in April 2017. The Act means that councils will have to start assessing someone at risk of being made homeless 56 days before losing their home. Before that, the threat of homelessness is defined as starting 28 days before the person loses their home.

In August 2018, the Government announced its Rough Sleeping Strategy, a £100 million series of 61 separate commitments to tackle rough sleeping in the UK. Designed to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027, the Strategy focusses on methods of prevention, intervention, and recovery.

The subsequent ‘Delivery Plan’ in December 2018, set out the next steps to support thousands of people off the street through new funding, bed spaces and outreach workers.

Both the Cathy Come Home campaign and subsequent legislation surrounding homelessness have been integral to the aims Stonewater holds to help vulnerable people.

The Grenfell Tower Tragedy

The terrible tragedy at Grenfell Tower in Kensington, where 71 residents died and over 70 were injured in June 2017, led to calls for greater scrutiny around health and safety issues, in particular fire regulations, building materials and construction standards for all buildings.

As an immediate action, fire safety tests were ordered for 600 buildings across the country, with 228 failing.

The tragedy has also seen an immediate reassessment of council and housing association stock, with the issue high on the political agenda. The public inquiry into the tragedy is still ongoing, but the tragedy led to significant reform to building practices, and the eventual passing of the Building Safety Act in 2022.

Reform of social housing regulation

Reform of the social housing regulator, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), was first announced in 2010 under the Coalition Government, but further details were not set out until the publication of the Housing White Paper in February 2017, which confirmed that the regulation aspect of the HCA would become a separate entity.

This came into fruition in January 2018, with the HCA becoming Homes England, and the regulatory function being moved to the new Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

Brexit negotiations end with a deal

After years of negotiations and the collapse of Theresa May’s government, the UK agreed a ‘withdrawal agreement’ with the European Union and left the EU in January 2020.

The transition would be complete by the end of 2020, including controversial measures around the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The deal also saw an end to freedom of movement and additional checks on imports, both of which could impact the development sector in the future.

Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic was an unprecedented global incident that sadly cost millions their lives.

In the UK, the Government announced a national lockdown on 23 March 2020 that meant businesses like Stonewater had to quickly adapt how they operate – with a greater use of home working.

For those customers, there was support available through the Furlough scheme, which helped to protect jobs that might otherwise have been lost due to the impacts on the economy. There were also protections in the form of additional benefits payments through Universal Credit and a moratorium on evictions.

Stonewater adapted quickly, moving to a hybrid system and digitising customer services, and many of these innovations are still in place today.

Cost-of-Living Crisis’

2022 saw a number of events conspire together, resulting in a number of economic crises often referred to as the “cost of living crisis”.
High energy bills, in no small part caused by the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supply chain issues, meant that energy bills soared. This disproportionately affected the UK market to the extent that the Government had to step in and provide financial support to millions of households to ensure they could afford their bills.

This was later followed by a spike in inflation rates in the UK, hitting highs of 11%. This impacted many households, causing costs to rise significantly.

For housing associations, the cost-of-living crisis meant that the Government capped the increase in social housing rents – a move supported by Stonewater but which meant that budgets were affected. The sector found ways to support customers through these challenging times, with income and financial guidance and support.

Social Housing Regulation

The long-awaited reform to the social housing sector received royal assent in July 2023 as the Social Housing (Regulation) Act was passed.

The legislation came six years after the Grenfell Tower fire, the tragedy that acted as a catalyst for this long-awaited reform. Its overall aim is to improve the quality of social housing for tenants by enforcing stricter regulations on social housing providers.

The act introduced new regulations for landlords while giving more powers to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) who can now carry out ‘Ofsted-style’ inspections of providers with as little as 48-hour notice – as well as the Housing Ombudsman.

New Labour Government

With the UK emerging from the Covid-19 lockdowns and seeing a shift in how people live and work, new challenges emerge as inflation soars and energy costs rise. Alongside this, series of scandals leads to greater regulation of the social housing sector, and enhanced requirements to prioritise their tenants.

And, after 14 years in opposition, Labour returns to Government with a landslide result.

Building Upwards

Building upwards also meant that more homes could be built more quickly, due to the smaller sizes of apartments compared to a comparable number of houses. This meant that, by 1968, the total number of new homes built was 425,830 – the highest level achieved in the UK.

This did not necessarily mean tower blocks, as blocks of six to eight storeys also became common, with ‘deck access’ – flats that were accessed by an outside walkway – also being developed. Many of these deck access buildings exist today in urban areas, particularly in London.

The developments were also notable for their minimal, functional design, and the often-unattractive designs meant that the public reaction to high-rise development was negative. At the end of the decade, in 1969, the next Housing Act shifted the balance in new build away from demolition towards restoration, reducing the emphasis on high-rise.

New regulation of housing associations

The 1964 Housing Act established the Housing Corporation, the public body to fund and regulate housing associations in England. The Corporation was established to promote low-cost rented and co-ownership housing, but it was not until the 1970s that its remit was changed to significantly grow the social housing sector.

The Housing Corporation continued to be the regulator of housing associations until December 2008, when its responsibilities were passed to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Tenant Services Authority. The HCA would later be replaced by Homes England and the Regulator of Social Housing in 2018.

First Building Regulations

1965 saw the first set of national building standards, the Building Regulations 1965, introduced, replacing the by-laws for construction that existed until then. These set out for the first time in law requirements for specific aspects of design and construction of new buildings, what qualifies as ‘building work’, and what notification must be given to alert people to building work being carried out. These were in force until they were replaced by the Building Act 1984.

Cathy Come Home

In 1966, a BBC television drama called Cathy Come Home became one of the best single television programmes when it highlighted the homelessness and poor housing issues, apparent in the 1960s. It tells the story of a young couple, Cathy and Reg, and their descent into poverty and homelessness. As the plot develops, they fall into homelessness and are forced to move with their children from one crowded home to another, often living in illegal conditions. Eventually Cathy and Reg decide to temporarily separate so that Cathy and the children can move into temporary emergency accommodation. However, this also expires and the family are once again homeless and separated.

The hard-hitting drama forced the public to face the reality of what was happening in towns and cities across the country. In light of the public reaction, and following a publicity campaign highlighting the plight of homelessness, the charity Crisis was formed the following year in 1967. By coincidence, another charity for the homeless, Shelter, was launched a few days after the first broadcast. Though it was not connected to the programme, Cathy Come Home alerted the public, the media, and the Government to the scale of the housing crisis, and Shelter gained many new supporters.

Despite the public outcry over the drama, it wasn’t until 1977 that any legislation was passed to reduce homelessness when the Labour Government passed the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. For the first time, the 1977 Act gave local authorities the legal duty to house homeless people in priority need, and to provide advice and assistance to those who did not qualify as having a priority need. In the intervening 30 years, this and subsequent legislation has helped thousands of vulnerable households to access decent, secure housing.

First housing bubble

Home ownership had overtaken private and social renting combined by the start of the decade, and was continuing to increase throughout the 1970s. This demand for homes to buy, coupled with an easing of credit conditions by the Bank of England and pro-growth agenda of the then Conservative Government, saw the UK’s first ‘housing bubble’ – where house prices underwent a rapid increase over a relatively short period of time.

Between 1970 and 1973 average house prices rose from £5,000 to £10,000, having only risen £3,000 over the previous 20 years.

1974 Housing Act

Following the first General Election of 1974, the new Labour Government introduced the Housing Act 1974 which, for the first time, saw large-scale funding of the housing association sector by the Government. At the time, housing associations were effectively voluntary, relying on charitable donation and support from philanthropic benefactors.

Under the measures in the Act, housing associations would receive funding for the whole cost of housing construction and the renovation of existing housing, in return for registering with the Housing Commission, which was restructured by the Act, and abiding by its regulation.

The passing of the Act marked the beginning of a significant increase in development by housing associations: the average completions by housing associations in the 25 years following the Act was almost double that of the previous 25 years. Meanwhile, as the Government diverted funding away from new council housing and local authorities shifted from development to repairs of existing stock, the next decade saw the rapid decline in council house building. This would be exacerbated by the Housing Acts of the 1980s.

What is Right to Buy?

Right to Buy was a scheme under which longstanding local authority tenants were entitled to purchase their homes at a heavily discounted price. The policy was introduced by the Housing Act 1980 in England and Wales and the Housing Tenants Rights etc. [Scotland] Act 1980.

The legislation established a legal right for almost all tenants of three years’ standing and applied to almost all properties where the landlord was a council, new town, non-charitable housing association or other public sector body.

These were sold at a discounted market valuation taking account of years of tenancy in any relevant dwelling: starting at 33% (for three years), increased by 1% for each additional year up to a maximum of 50%.

History of Right to Buy

It was the Labour Party that had initially proposed the idea of the right of tenants to own the house they live in, as part of its manifesto for the 1959 General Election. Later, the Conservative-controlled Greater London Council of the late 1960s created a general sales scheme, which had reasonable interest from housing tenants during the 1970s.

As a result, the Conservative Party had committed itself to introducing Right to Buy before Margaret Thatcher became leader. It was largely in place in 1974, but did not prove an asset due to undesirable economic conditions. However, it was a key feature of Conservative Party literature in the run up to the 1979 General Election, with it being introduced as legislation in the 1980 shortly after Margaret Thatcher become Prime Minister.

Increase in home ownership

The Right to Buy policy proved popular with voters as aspiration to see home ownership increased. However, there was significant opposition from local many councils – particularly Labour controlled ones – as new homes were not being replaced. However, the legislation prevented councils from blocking purchases, so there was little that they could do except complain. In 1982, Right to Buy sales hit an all-time peak of over 240,000, and in 1984 the available discounts were increased. Realising how popular it was, the Labour Party abandoned its opposition to the policy in 1985. 1989 saw sales exceed 200,000 for the second time, and between 1979 and 1995, 2.1 million properties were transferred from the public sector under Right to Buy.

Stock transfer

Following the Housing Act 1980, which cemented the right to buy one’s council home, there was a significant decline in levels of public housing. This trend continued throughout the late 1980s with the Housing and Planning Act 1986, which gave councils the options of transferring all or part of their housing to another landlord, such as a registered social landlord, which included housing associations.

Right to Buy: A controversial yet popular policy

Despite the increase in sales because of the Right to Buy, from the outset there were restrictions on local authorities’ use of receipts from sales, which largely reverted to the Treasury. There was also no policy commitment to replace sold dwellings, which meant that many councils were unable to replace the stock they had lost.

The policy was considered expensive for councils, as they were forced to sell their housing stock at below the market rate. Large-scale stock transfer also diminished council housing accounts, hampering authorities’ ability to carry out repairs and improvements. As a result, many people who had purchased their home under Right to Buy were now faced with structural problems with some types of concrete houses, including the prefabricated concrete homes still in use. This made them unmortgageable and many people who had bought these sorts of houses found that they were effectively impossible to resell.

How has Labour set out to deliver 1.5 million homes?

The Government moved quickly to ramp up housing supply and efficiency.

In October 2024, the first steps of the long-term Warm Home Plans were unveiled, with 3.4 billion pledged for social housing retrofits and local authority home insulation.

The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) directed councils to prioritise brownfield sites and identify ‘grey belt’ land like disused golf courses or shopping centres for housebuilding, with greenbelt land used only as a last resort. Local officials were also mandated to set housing targets, with changes to how housing need is calculated.

Planning fees rose sharply, allowing for an income boost for local planning authorities to enhance their capacity to efficiently process housing applications.

Climate and retrofit policies were also key. The Government removed planning ‘red tape’ for clean heating, expanded permitted development rights for heat pumps and boosted funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

At the same time, the sector has emphasised the need to balance investment in retrofit with other core priorities – including building safety, essential repairs, and the delivery of new supply. The £3.4 billion Warm Homes Plan and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund mark important early progress, but many warn that significantly greater long-term funding will be needed to meet the scale of the challenge.

Building Safety and the Legacy of Grenfell:

The Building Safety Act 2022 remains one of the most significant reforms in housing regulation since the Decent Homes Programme. While the Social Housing (Regulation) Act has focussed on standards and tenant voice, the Building Safety Act addresses structural risks, with many providers navigating rising costs of remediation alongside damp and mould compliance.

It introduced:

• A new Building Safety Regulator within the Health and Safety Executive.
• Clear duties on landlords to maintain a ‘Golden Thread’ of safety information.
• New competencies for building managers.
• Enhanced resident engagement requirements on safety.

The Act lays critical foundations for a more transparent, accountable and safety-driven housing system. One that puts residents first and seeks to ensure that the systemic failures of the past are never repeated.

Post-Election: New Labour and new policies

Within its first weeks in power, the Labour Government pledged a radical shift. Ministers reaffirmed the manifesto of building 1.5 million homes, driven especially by social and affordable housing, and vowed to “get Britain building again” through sweeping planning reforms, local housing targets and a revised National Planning Policy Framework.

The new Housing Secretary Angela Rayner emphasised devolving increased autonomy to local authorities and housing associations to have more freedom to use Right-to-Buy receipts, allowing them to use their existing stock to bring forward replacements more quickly. Labour pledged to review and reduce the Right-to-Buy discounts introduced in 2012 to better protect the existing stock of social housing. Meanwhile, the Government affirmed its plan for a new mortgage guarantee to help first-time buyers get onto the property ladder.

Renters Rights:

The Renters (Reform) Bill (also called the Renters Rights Bill) is a flagship Labour commitment. The main priority of the bill is ending Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, meaning families can no longer be uprooted from their homes with little notice nor justification. Ultimately aiming to end the insecurity which is currently embedded in the tenancy system.

The Bill also strengthens tenants’ rights. For example, any fixed-term tenancy automatically becomes periodic, so tenants can stay indefinitely if they meet standard and tenants cannot be pushed out for complaining about repairs, closing the “retaliatory eviction loophole”

Driving up Standards in Social Housing:

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 has reshaped oversight of the sector. Under the Act the Regulator of Social Housing introduced new more specific standards including Safety, Quality, Neighbourhood and Transparency. These set clear legal expectations and gave regulators and tenants robust benchmarks.

The Act also mandated Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSM), covering areas like repairs, safety, complaints, engagement, and anti-social behaviour. Landlords managing over 1,000 homes submitted their first TSM reports in Summer 2024.

The RSH gained significant new powers, including inspections, unlimited fines and the ability to appoint special managers or intervene in governance.

Following this, in early 2025, the government proposed a revised Decent Homes Standard, prioritising energy efficiency and climate resilience, with legal standards expected to apply across social and private rentals.

Additionally, Awaab’s Law will begin phased implementation in October 2025, aimed at preventing health-related tragedies such as the 2023 death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak due to mould exposure.