Poor and insufficient homes were for Beveridge a source of squalor. Squalor today is homelessness, families in Bed and Breakfast, overcrowding and homes in public and private sectors below the fitness standard. Poor and insufficient housing produces a range of negative impacts. Providing more and better quality homes which are secure and affordable for those whose lives are subject to external challenges and disruption is one of the central cures for the ills of society.
The purpose of this paper is to review changes in attitudes to, and policy towards, social housing and social housing tenants since the Beveridge Report of 1942. In the last three decades, we have seen social housing being blamed for the concentration of disadvantage and the growth of a dependency culture. This fails to understand that in a numerically declining and increasingly residualised social housing sector, priority is given to households who cannot afford to access market housing and who have acute needs.