There is general acceptance that the policy formula which dominated postwar Britain had changed by the 1980s. Some commentators argue that the change started as early as 1954, and emphasise continuities and a slow evolution of policy (Malpass, 2004). Others emphasise dramatic policy change associated with the election of the government led by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 (Mullins and Murie, 2006). The statistics of housing production show a significant break in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The volume of production of new housing provided by local authorities declined, and by the mid-1980s had fallen almost to zero. It has not revived since. The focus in new-housing construction shifted towards the private sector, although one of the concerns is that the volume of production from the private sector has not filled the gap left by the reduction in council housebuilding. Rather than being led by local authorities, new construction of housing for rent was increasingly led by housing associations. After the Housing Act 1988, the capacity of these associations to borrow on the private market, and for this not to be counted as public expenditure, made them more attractive to government. If government channelled a pound of housing capital expenditure to housing associations, it generated more than another pound in investment; whereas, if it channelled the money through local authorities, it did not lever-in additional funding. As well a the change in the pattern of new-building investment, privatisation through the Right to Buy, discretionary sales to sitting tenants and others, and the transfer of
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