Introduction: Analysing Housing Policy

Abstract

Policy is but one element in the scope of housing studies and by way of introduction it is appropriate to refer to the breadth of the subject. Housing provides a rich and varied field of study, beginning with the basic human need for shelter. There are approaching 24 million dwellings in Britain, and because of the durability of the structures built to withstand the rigours of the British climate, the houses now in use include some that are hundreds of years old and many (a quarter) that are over 80 years old. The form and type of housing tend to reflect its age. Most people live in conventional (for Britain at least) two-storey houses, but of course there is immense variation in what people’s homes consist of, from the palatial residences of the rich and famous to the sometimes damp and overcrowded dwellings of the least well off. Housing conditions represent a key indicator of quality, and Britain in the 1990s still has over half a million dwellings lacking in basic modern amenities, and over 2.5 million that are considered to be in serious disrepair.