Introduction

In England in 2011, nearly 5 million dwellings, or 21 per cent of the housing stock, had been built before the end of the First World War and almost 60 per cent were more than fifty years old. It is not surprising, therefore, that the renewal of housing has been and remains an important focus for public policy. The earliest policies, developed from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, were a response to the inadequate and often life-threatening conditions under which many people lived, and led to the clearance or reconditioning of some of the worst housing. This process continued into the early part of the twentieth century and was followed after the Second World War by large-scale programmes of slum clearance and redevelopment. Then came a period when much of the older housing stock was seen as a national asset to be protected and improved, with substantial public resources being provided for housing and environmental improvement, first in the private and then in the public sector. By 2010, nearly three-quarters of the housing in England met the statutory ‘decent home standard’ but over a quarter (nearly 6 million dwellings) did not. These non-decent dwellings are found in all tenures but 87 per cent of them are in the private sector, including 23 per cent in the private rented sector. The poor quality of this non-decent housing is reflected in the high carbon emissions attributable to housing in England; and in the problem of fuel poverty, estimated to affect 2.3 million households in 2012. These are serious issues which have become more serious over time as housing renewal policy, especially in the private sector and particularly from the 1990s, has had less prominence than in the past.

Against this background, the chapter has two main aims: first, to summarise the principal housing renewal interventions, especially since the 1960s, in terms of innovations and policy themes, tracing in particular the progression from approaches that were mainly property-focused to those of a more holistic nature. The intention is not to review each intervention in detail but rather to highlight the main changes of emphasis in policy over time. The second aim is to review recent developments in housing improvement and renewal policy, especially those that have come into force in the early years of the twenty-first century.