Housing policy: Does it have a future?

This article begins by looking at the idea that housing policy in Britain has come to an end, at least in terms of the formulations that were generally accepted throughout much of the post-1945 period. Reference is made to two particular contributions, by Bramley and Kleinman, who both argue that housing can now be understood as an adjunct of other social programme areas, such as social security and regeneration. The article then goes on to consider arguments for believing that there are still serious genuine housing problems to be tackled. This leads into a review of the UK Labour government's stance on housing and its performance during its first 18 months in office. The article concludes with some modest proposals for the development of effective housing policy measures beyond the end of the century, arguing that housing is so important in terms of its impact on life chances that it should be at the heart of social policy.