For much of the mid-to late 20th century, council housing was to become a cornerstone of British life. That all changed after the election of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government in 1979. In 1980, they introduced a policy that would see one of the most significant housing reforms in modern British history.
From the start, it was controversial. Council tenants were given the legal right to purchase the homes they were living in. The policy was called “Right to Buy”. And tenants were often given a substantial discount to market price to do so. Traditionally, council housing was there to provide cheap, affordable housing to rent, not to buy.
That was about to change.
But first, how did we get there, and why?
The Post-War Council House Boom
After the Second World War, Britain needed new housing and lots of it. Housing stock that had been damaged and destroyed by the Luftwaffe needed to be replaced. There was also a need to replace the rundown, ageing, privately owned housing stock that was no longer fit for purpose.
Not for the first time, Britain had a housing crisis. The same call to build homes fit for heroes had gone out after the First World War. For the most part it failed to deliver. Britain’s housing stock for the masses was poor, but in 1945 a Labour government committed itself to building decent-quality, affordable housing to rent.
They were called council houses.
From the end of the war, up to 1980, over four million council properties were built in Britain. They provided secure, affordable homes, and for many, renting from the local council became the norm, something that was desirable. It offered stability, community, and a sense of belonging that stretched across generations.
But in the 1980s, that changed.
It was something that would reshape not only how people lived but also what they thought about homeownership, wealth, and society itself.
A Radical New Idea — The Right to Buy
In housing, there was a shift to the ideology that the market knows best.
