British Council Housing, Born 100 Years Ago. Success? Failure? Somewhere In Between

Early Council Housing at Carr Hill Road in Gateshead, UK, built in 1921.

Governments are vital agents of social and economic change, not foot-dragging deep state bureaucracies committed to interfering with visionary private enterprise.

Really?

Mariana Mazzucato, an American economist, has earned growing international respect for this revolutionary view, backed up by her research. Governments are the true risk takers and funders of important new ideas, not free market entrepreneurs, in spite of all the hype surrounding hubs of innovation such as Silicon Valley. Try: Is Government, Not Free Enterprise, The Engine Of Innovation?

If what Mazzucato suggests is even partly true, is there a benefit in searching through history for government role models as we face national affordable housing crises in desperate need of innovative solutions?

In the UK, government made an audacious risk and investment 100 years ago. The Minister of Health in the British Government, Dr. Christopher Addison, gave birth to social housing in the UK in what became known as the Addison Act. It was inspired by British Prime Minister Lloyd George, determined to provide affordable housing for returning soldiers following the end of World War I.

The Addison Act permitted local governments to build unlimited numbers of houses that subsidized by the national government at rents that were both low and controlled.

Was this visionary landmark in British social history a great success? Or has history proved it be a resounding failure?

In this 100th anniversary year of the Addison Act, Birmingham University Professor John Bryson dispassionately explores why this grand humanitarian risk by the UK national government was neither success nor failure, but somewhere in between. Read more from the University of Birmingham: Reflections On The 100th Anniversary Of The Addison Act: Housing As A Social Or Economic Asset

 

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