Although the inter-war period saw significant improvements in public and private housing, bad housing and the slums remained two of the most pressing social problems in the North East and elsewhere.
In the 1920s the dominant housing tenure was made up of private landlords renting for profit. Tenants had few rights. Conditions were appalling with some of the overcrowded older housing stock producing problems of disease, damp and vermin. The six most overcrowded districts in England were in the North East. According to Cook and Stevenson a fifth of County Durham’s population – a quarter of a million people lived in overcrowded conditions.
Homes for heroes?
As in other areas of public policy the Great War had a huge impact on inter-war housing policy development. During World War One housebuilding virtually ceased. By 1918 there was an estimated housing shortage of 600,000. A year later this was officially recognised by the state. The government committed itself to a policy of ”homes for heroes to live in.”
The Addison Plan
In 1919 the Addison Act, (named after Dr Christopher Addison, the first Minister of Health) was passed which established the principle of state intervention. According to the historian Bentley Gilbert there were a number of underlying reasons for this. One – there was a growing acceptance by the state that decent housing was a basic human need and couldn’t be left to market forces. The free play of supply and demand had left millions of people without decent homes. Two – the continued growth of the labour and trade union movement put pressure on the government to address sub-standard homes. Three – rent strikes like the Glasgow Rent strike of 1915 – mass action by working class tenants of private landlords led to rent controls. The experience of war created a sense of solidarity amongst working people and their families with the state fearing social revolution.
In 1919 the government brought in housing subsidies – grants to local councils and private builders to provide low-cost housing for renting. For the Newcastle University historian Norman McCord this act gave local authorities a prominent role as direct providers of social housing. Over 200,000 new houses were built by councils under the Addison Plan before it was destroyed in the economy drive of 1921-2 -(the ‘Gedde Axe’). Rent controls in the private sector to curtail profiteering continued.
Considerable progress
In 1923 the Chamberlain Act was enacted which introduced a new policy. Although council and private enterprise housing was subsidised by the state, local authorities were only allowed to build for rent if the private sector couldn’t. Under the minority Labour government in 1924 the Wheatley Act was passed which allowed local authorities to build council housing at subsidised rents regardless of what the private sector was doing. 500,000 new council homes were built. In the words of C P Hill – ”important strides were made……… progress had been considerable.”
Under these post-war policies several council housing estates were built, including the ”cottage estates” at High Heaton, Pendower and Cowgate, in Newcastle.
Under the Greenwood Act 1930 some councils started extensive programmes of slum clearance (which was temporarily halted by economy measures after 1931). Under these schemes some large cities like Manchester, built extensive housing estates on their outskirts, while Leeds, for instance, erected blocks of flats on the sites of former slums. Yet areas of bad housing remained in 1939, particularly on Tyneside.
Although 1.6mn homes were built by 1930, Norman Ginsberg points out the vast majority were built by the private sector despite the Wheatley Act. Council housing largely benefitted the ”respectable working class”. Many low-incomes families couldn’t afford even the subsidised rents.
Overcrowding
By 1935 overcrowding was officially defined and made unlawful. Local authorities were given powers to survey their localities and provide additional housing where necessary despite limited subsidy help from central government. 330,000 homes nationally were defined as overcrowded – over 20% in County Durham. Yet unofficial estimates put the figure nearer to one million. However, only 24,000 homes were built to replace the overcrowded properties!
Suburbs
The 1930s saw a significant growth in owner-occupation and the rise of the ”suburbs” both in the North of England and elsewhere. Private enterprise built thousands of new houses to sell. In the mid ‘thirties’ the UK experienced a housing boom as a result of low interest rates, reduced building costs and the growth in demand from the middle class in secure jobs who experienced a rise in real incomes. A significant section of the artisan skilled working class accessed home ownership for the first time. Known as the ‘era of the suburb’ by 1937 – 350,000 new homes – often mock Tudor semis- were built. Several were built in Kenton, Gosforth, High Heaton and Hebburn on Tyneside.
As McCord notes the nation’s housing situation saw a gradual improvement alongside other social conditions throughout the inter-war period. Over four million new homes were constructed – three million by private enterprise and one million by local authorities.
By 1939 one in three households lived in post-war ‘modern’ homes with inside toilets and heating. One in ten rented their home from the local council. These homes were strongly built to high standards with more space, facilities and gardens. Yet most of the new housing built was bought by white-collar workers, professionals and the ‘labour aristocracy’ (upper-working class). Owner-occupation for these social groups became the norm.
Housebuilding was unevenly distributed throughout Britain which too often favoured the South East and Midlands. Despite some modest improvement industrial area like the North East and Scotland were neglected.
Housebuilding and slum clearance schemes varied considerably among local authorities. The vast majority of the working class were still trapped in the private rented sector most of it built before 1914 with much of it sub-standard. About four million families were living in properties over 80 years old. One million households still lived in slums including thousands on both sides of the Tyne. The poor were little better housed in 1939 than in 1919.
It was not until the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s under both post-war Labour and Conservative governments (the Welfare consensus) that overall housing conditions improved dramatically with hundreds of thousands of new quality social homes built to high standards with notable examples like Montagu, Blakelaw, Fenham and North Kenton estates across Newcastle.
